Theseus. The myth of Theseus, The exploits of Theseus. N. A. Kun. Legends and myths of Ancient Greece

Theseus is the greatest hero of Athens, having much in common with Hercules. Theseus is the hero of the military-tribal aristocracy, and then the hero of the ruling Athenian slave-owning aristocracy of landowners, who attributed the creation of the entire ancient state system of Athens to Theseus. He was credited, first of all, with dividing the population into three classes: “zvpatrids”, or nobles, “geomors”, or farmers, and “demiurges”, or artisans, and granting the exclusive right to fill positions with one noble. The following fact is also characteristic: they said that during the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), in which the Greeks defeated the Persians, many Athenians allegedly saw Theseus in a helmet with a spear and shield, walking ahead of the Athenian battle formation. The aristocrats took advantage of these fabulous stories. Their representative Kimon transported the remains of Theseus to Athens from the island of Skyros, which in reality, of course, did not exist, since Theseus never existed.

Based on Plutarch's biography Theseus

Birth and upbringing of Theseus

Pandion's son, Aegeus, ruled in Athens after he and his brothers expelled their relatives, the sons of Metion, from Attica, who had unlawfully seized power. For a long time Aegeus ruled happily. Only one thing saddened him: he did not have children. Finally, Aegeus went to the oracle of Apollo in Delphi and there asked the luminous god why the gods did not send him children. The oracle gave Aegeus an unclear answer. He thought for a long time, trying to unravel the hidden meaning of the answer, but could not unravel it. Finally, Aegeus decided to go to the city of Troisena (City in Argolis in the Peloponnese) to the wise king of Argolis Pittheus, so that he would unravel the secret of Apollo’s answer. Pitfey immediately guessed the meaning of the answer. He realized that Aegeus should have a son who would be the greatest hero of Athens. Pittheus wanted the honor of being the birthplace of the great hero to belong to Troisena. Therefore, he gave Aegeus his daughter Ephra as a wife. And then Efra, when she became the wife of Aegeus, had a son, but it was the son of the god Poseidon, not Aegeus. The newborn was given the name Theseus. Soon after the birth of Theseus, King Aegeus had to leave Troisena and return to Athens. When leaving, Aegeus took his sword and sandals, put them under a rock in the mountains near Troisena and said to Ephra:
- When my son Theseus is able to move this rock and get my sword and sandals, then send him with them to me in Athens. I recognize him by my sword and sandals. (Myth of Theseus)
Until the age of sixteen, Theseus was raised in the house of his grandfather Pittheus. Pitfey, famous for his wisdom, took care of the upbringing of his grandson and rejoiced when he saw that his grandson was superior to his peers in everything. But Theseus turned sixteen years old; Even then no one could compare with him either in strength, or in dexterity, or in the ability to wield weapons. Theseus was beautiful: tall, slender, with the clear gaze of beautiful eyes, dark curls that fell in lush rings to his shoulders; in front, on the forehead, the curls were cut off, since he dedicated them to Apollo; the hero's young, muscular body clearly spoke of his mighty strength.

The exploits of Theseus on the road to Athens

When Ephra saw that her son was superior in strength to all his peers, she led him to the rock under which lay the sword and sandals of Aegeus, and said:
- My son, here under this rock lie the sword and sandals of your father, the ruler of Athens, Aegeus. Move the rock and take the sword and sandals, they will be the sign by which your father will recognize you.
Theseus pushed the rock and easily moved it from its place. He took his sword and sandals, said goodbye to his mother and grandfather and set off on a long journey to Athens. Theseus did not heed the requests of his mother and grandfather to choose a safer sea route; he decided to go to Athens by land, through the Isthmus.
This path was difficult. Theseus had to overcome many dangers during his journey, and he had to perform many feats. Already on the border of Troisena and Epidaurus (a city on the eastern coast of Argolis), the hero met the giant Periphetus, the son of the god Hephaestus. Like the god Hephaestus himself, his son, the giant Periphetus, was lame, but his arms were powerful and his body was huge. Periphetus was formidable. Not a single wanderer passed through the mountains in which Periphetus lived; the giant killed them all with his iron club, but Theseus easily defeated Periphetes. This was the hero’s first feat, and as a sign of his victory he took the iron club of Periphetus, whom he had killed.

Theseus walked further all the way to Isthmus without being exposed to danger. On Isthmus, in a pine grove dedicated to Poseidon, Theseus met the pine bender Sinid. He was a fierce robber. He put all travelers to a terrible death. Having bent two pine trees so that their tops touched, Sinid tied the unfortunate traveler to the pine trees and released them. With terrible force, the pines straightened and tore the body of the unfortunate man. Theseus avenged all those whom Sinid had destroyed. He tied up the robber, bent two huge pine trees with his mighty hands, tied Sinid to them and let the pine trees go. The ferocious robber died the same death with which he destroyed innocent travelers. The path through the Isthmus was now clear. Later, in memory of his victory, Theseus established the Isthmian Games at the place where he defeated Sinid (Isthmian Games - a pan-Greek festival celebrated every two years on the Isthmus of Corinth - Isthmus. During the games, which lasted several days, wrestling competitions took place , running, fist fighting, discus and javelin throwing, as well as chariot races).
Theseus's further journey went through Kromion (City on the Isthmus, not far from Corinth). The entire area around was devastated by a huge wild pig generated by Typhon and Echidna. The inhabitants of Kromion prayed to the young hero to save them from this monster. Theseus overtook the pig and killed it with his sword.
Theseus went further. In the most dangerous place of Isthmus, at the borders of Megara (the region in the north of Isthmus, bordering on the east with Attica), where sheer cliffs rose high to the sky, at the foot of which foamy sea walls roared menacingly, Theseus met a new danger. At the very edge of the cliff lived the robber Skiron. He forced everyone who passed by to wash his feet. As soon as the traveler bent down to wash Skiron’s feet, the cruel robber, with a strong push of his foot, threw the unfortunate man off the cliff into the stormy waves of the sea, where he crashed to death on sharp stones sticking out of the water, and his body was devoured by a monstrous turtle. Theseus, when Skiron wanted to push him too, grabbed the robber by the leg and threw him into the sea.
Not far from Eleusis, Theseus had to fight Kerkion, just as Hercules had to fight Antaeus. The mighty Kerkion killed many, but Theseus, wrapping his arms around Kerkion, squeezed him as if in an iron vice and killed him. Theseus freed the daughter of Kerkion, Alope, and Theseus gave power over the country of Kerkion to the son of Alope and Poseidon, Hippothoont. (The Labors of Theseus)
Having passed Eleusis and approaching the valley of the Cephisus River in Attica, Theseus came to the robber Damastus, who was usually called Procrustes (the drawer). This robber came up with a particularly painful torture for everyone who came to him. Procrustes had a bed; he forced those who fell into his hands to lie on it. If the bed was too long, Procrustes pulled the unfortunate man out until the victim's legs touched the edge of the bed. If the bed was short, then Procrustes cut off the unfortunate man’s legs. Theseus threw Procrustes himself onto the bed, but the bed, of course, turned out to be too short for the giant Procrustes, and Theseus killed him the same way the villain killed the travelers. (Myth of Theseus)
This was Theseus's last labor on his way to Athens. Theseus did not want to come to Athens stained (The Greeks believed that shed blood defiles a person. Therefore, anyone who kills a person must perform special cleansing rites at the altar of any god) with the shed blood of Sinid, Sciron, Procrustes and others; he asked the Phytalids (Descendants of the hero Phytal, who founded the mysteries in Eleusis - a special religious cult in honor of the goddess Demeter) to cleanse him with special religious ceremonies at the altar of Zeus-Melichius (Melichius means “merciful”). The phytalids welcomed the young hero as cordially as a guest. They fulfilled his request and cleansed him from the filth of shed blood. Now Theseus could go to Athens, to his father Aegeus. (The Labors of Theseus)

Theseus in Athens

In long Ionian clothes, shining with beauty, Theseus walked through the streets of Athens; lush curls fell over his shoulders. The young hero in his long robe looked more like a girl than a hero who had accomplished so many great feats. Theseus had to pass by the temple of Apollo under construction, on which workers were already erecting a roof. The workers saw the hero, mistook him for a girl and began to mock him. Laughing, the workers shouted:
- Look, there’s a girl wandering around the city alone, unaccompanied! Look how she let her hair down for show, and with her long clothes she sweeps up the street dust.
Angered by the ridicule of the workers, Theseus ran to the oxcart, unharnessed the oxen, grabbed the cart and threw it so high that it flew over the heads of the workers standing on the roof of the temple. The workers who mocked Theseus were horrified when they saw that this was not a girl, but a young hero possessing terrible power. They expected the hero to take cruel revenge on them for their ridicule, but Theseus calmly continued on his way.
Finally, Theseus came to the palace of Aegeus. He did not immediately reveal to the elderly father who he was, but said that he was a stranger seeking protection. Aegeus did not recognize his son, but the sorceress Medea recognized him. She, having fled from Corinth to Athens, became the wife of Aegeus. The cunning Medea, having promised Aegeus to restore his youth through witchcraft, ruled in the house of the king of Athens, and Aegeus himself obeyed her in everything. The power-hungry Medea immediately understood the danger that threatened her if Aegeus found out who the beautiful stranger he had received in his palace was. So as not to lose power. Medea planned to destroy the hero. She persuaded Aegeus to poison Theseus, assuring the old king that the young man was a spy sent by his enemies. Decrepit, weak Aegeus, afraid that someone would deprive him of power, agreed to this atrocity.
During the feast, Medea placed a cup of poisoned wine in front of Theseus. Just at that moment Theseus took out his sword for some reason. Aegeus immediately recognized the sword that he himself had placed under the rock near Troisena sixteen years ago. He looked at Theseus's feet and saw his sandals on them. Now he understood who this stranger was. Having knocked over the cup of poisoned wine, Aegeus hugged Theseus, his son. Medea was expelled from Athens and fled with her son Medon to Media.
Aegeus solemnly announced to the entire Athenian people the arrival of his son and spoke about his great exploits accomplished during the journey from Troisena to Athens. The Athenians rejoiced along with Aegeus and greeted their future king with loud shouts.
The rumor that the son of Aegeus had come to Athens also reached the sons of Pallant, brother of Aegeus. With the arrival of Theseus, their hope of ruling in Athens after the death of Aegeus collapsed - after all, he now had a legitimate heir. The harsh pallantides did not want to lose power in Athens. They decided to take over Athens by force. Led by their father, all fifteen Pallantides moved against Athens. Knowing the mighty power of Theseus, they came up with the following trick: part of the Pallantides openly approached the walls of Athens, while others had already taken refuge in ambush in order to unexpectedly attack Aegeus. But the messenger of the Pallantides, Leos, revealed their plan to Theseus. The young hero quickly decided how he should act; he attacked the Pallantides hiding in ambush and killed them all; Neither strength nor courage saved them. When the Pallantides, who stood under the walls of Athens, learned of the death of their brothers, they were overcome by such fear that they fled shamefully. Now Aegeus could reign calmly in Athens under the protection of his son. (Myth of Theseus)
Theseus did not remain inactive in Athens. He decided to free Attica from the wild bull that was devastating the area around Marathon. This bull was brought, by order of Eurystheus, from Crete to Mycenae by Hercules and released there into the wild. The bull fled to Attica and has since been a great evil for all farmers. Theseus set out fearlessly for this new feat. In Marathon he met an old woman, Hekala. She received the hero as a guest and advised him to make a sacrifice to Zeus the Savior before his new feat, so that Zeus would protect him during a dangerous battle with a monstrous bull. Theseus listened to Hekala's advice. Soon Theseus found the bull: the bull rushed at the hero, but he grabbed him by the horns. The bull rushed, but could not escape from Theseus’ mighty hands. Theseus bent the bull's head to the ground, tied it up, tamed it and led it to Athens. On the way back, Theseus did not find old Hekala alive; she has already died. Theseus honored the deceased with great honors for the advice and hospitality that Hekala had shown him so recently. Having brought the bull to Athens, Theseus sacrificed it to the god Apollo. (The Labors of Theseus)

Theseus' Journey to Crete

When Theseus came to Athens, all of Attica was plunged into deep sadness. For the third time, ambassadors from Crete arrived from the powerful King Minos to collect tribute. This tribute was heavy and shameful. The Athenians had to send seven boys and seven girls to Crete every nine years. There they were locked in a huge palace, the Labyrinth, and they were devoured by the terrible monster Minotaur, with the body of a man and the head of a bull. Minos imposed this tribute on the Athenians because they killed his son Androgeus. Now for the third time the Athenians had to send a terrible tribute to Crete. They have already equipped a ship with black sails as a sign of grief for the young victims of the Minotaur.
Seeing the general sadness, the young hero Theseus decided to go with the Athenian boys and girls to Crete, free them and stop paying this terrible tribute. It was possible to stop payment only by killing the Minotaur. Therefore, Theseus decided to engage in battle with the Minotaur and either kill him or die. The elderly Aegeus did not want to hear about the departure of his only son, but Theseus insisted on his own. He made a sacrifice to Apollo-Delphinius, the patron of sea travel, and from Delphi, just before leaving, he was given an oracle so that he would choose the goddess of love Aphrodite as his patroness in this feat. Having called upon Aphrodite for help and made a sacrifice to her, Theseus went to Crete.
The ship happily arrived at the island of Crete. The Athenian youths and girls were taken to Minos. The powerful king of Crete immediately drew attention to the beautiful young hero. The king’s daughter, Ariadne, also noticed him, and Theseus’ patroness, Aphrodite, aroused in Ariadne’s heart a strong love for the young son of Aegeus. The daughter of Minos decided to help Theseus; she could not even imagine that the young hero would die in the Labyrinth, torn to pieces by the Minotaur.
Before going to battle with the Minotaur, Theseus had to perform one more feat. Minos insulted one of the Athenian girls. Theseus stood up for her, but, proud of his origin, the king of Crete began to mock Theseus; he was angry that some Athenian dared to oppose him, the son of Zeus. Theseus proudly answered the king:
- You are proud of your descent from Zeus, but I am not the son of a mere mortal, my father is the great shaker of the earth, the god of the sea Poseidon.
“If you are the son of the god Poseidon, then prove it and get the ring from the depths of the sea,” Minos answered Theseus and threw the golden ring into the sea.
Calling on his father Poseidon, Theseus fearlessly threw himself from the steep shore into the sea waves. The salty spray flew high and hid the waves of the sea of ​​Theseus. Everyone looked with fear at the sea that had swallowed the hero, and were sure that he would not return back. Ariadne stood full of despair; and she was sure that Theseus was dead.
And Theseus, as soon as the sea waves closed over his head, was picked up by the god Triton and in the blink of an eye rushed to the underwater palace of Poseidon. Poseidon joyfully welcomed his son into his magical underwater palace and gave him the ring of Minos, and Poseidon’s wife, Amphitrite, admiring the beauty and courage of the hero, laid a golden wreath on Theseus’s lush curls. Triton again picked up Theseus and carried him out of the depths of the sea to the shore to the place from which the hero threw himself into the sea. Theseus proved to Minos that he was the son of Poseidon, lord of the sea. Minos' daughter Ariadne rejoiced that Theseus returned unharmed from the depths of the sea. (The Labors of Theseus)
But an even more dangerous feat lay ahead: it was necessary to kill the Minotaur. Here Ariadne came to Theseus' aid. She gave Theseus, secretly from his father, a sharp sword and a ball of thread. When Theseus and all those doomed to be torn to pieces were taken to the Labyrinth, Theseus tied the end of a ball of thread at the entrance to the Labyrinth and walked along the confusing endless passages of the Labyrinth, from which it was impossible to find a way out; He gradually unwound the ball to find his way back along the thread. Theseus walked further and further and finally came to the place where the Minotaur was. With a menacing roar, bowing his head with huge sharp horns, the Minotaur rushed at the young hero, and a terrible battle began. The Minotaur, full of rage, rushed at Theseus several times, but he repelled him with his sword. Finally, Theseus grabbed the Minotaur by the horn and plunged his sharp sword into his chest. Having killed the Minotaur, Theseus followed the thread of a ball out of the Labyrinth and brought out all the Athenian boys and girls. Ariadne met them at the exit; she joyfully greeted Theseus. The young men and women saved by Theseus rejoiced. Decorated with wreaths of roses, glorifying the hero and his patroness Aphrodite, they led a merry round dance.
Now it was necessary to take care of salvation from the wrath of Minos. Theseus quickly equipped his ship and, having cut through the bottom of all the Cretan ships pulled ashore, quickly set off on the return journey to Athens. Ariadne followed Theseus, whom she fell in love with. (Myth of Theseus)
On the way back, Theseus came to the shore of Naxos. When Theseus and his companions were resting from their journey, the god of wine Dionysus appeared to Theseus in a dream and told him that he must leave Ariadne on the deserted shore of Naxos, since the gods had appointed her to be his wife, the god Dionysus. Theseus woke up and, full of sadness, quickly got ready to set off. He did not dare to disobey the will of the gods. Ariadne, the wife of the great Dionysus, became the goddess. The companions of Dionysus loudly greeted Ariadne and praised the wife of the great god with singing.
And Theseus's ship quickly rushed on its black sails across the azure sea. The coast of Attica has already appeared in the distance. Theseus, saddened by the loss of Ariadne, forgot his promise to Aegeus - to replace the black sails with white ones if he, having defeated the Minotaur, happily returned to Athens. Aegeus was waiting for his son. Staring into the distance of the sea, he stood on a high rock near the seashore. A black dot appeared in the distance; it grew, approaching the shore. This is his son's ship. He's getting closer. Aegeus looks, straining his eyes, to see what kind of sails he has. No, white sails do not shine in the sun, the sails are black. This means Theseus died. In despair, Aegeus threw himself from a high cliff into the sea and died in the sea waves; only his lifeless body was thrown ashore by the waves. Since then, the sea in which Aegeus perished has been called the Aegean. And Theseus landed on the shores of Attica and was already making thanksgiving sacrifices to the gods, when suddenly, to his horror, he learned that he had become the involuntary cause of his father’s death. Theseus, grief-stricken, buried his father's body with great honors, and after the funeral took power over Athens.

Theseus and the Amazons

Theseus ruled wisely in Athens. But he did not live quietly in Athens; he often left them in order to take part in the exploits of the heroes of Greece. Thus, Theseus participated in the Calydonian hunt, in the campaign of the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece and in the campaign of Hercules against the Amazons. When the Amazon city of Themiscyra was taken, Theseus took the Amazon queen Antiope with him to Athens as a reward for her bravery. In Athens, Antiope became the wife of Theseus. The hero celebrated his wedding with the queen of the Amazons magnificently.
The Amazons plotted to take revenge on the Greeks for the destruction of their city and decided to free Queen Antiope from what they thought was a difficult captivity under Theseus. A large army of Amazons invaded Attica. The Athenians were forced to take refuge from the onslaught of the warlike Amazons behind the city walls. The Amazons even burst into the city itself and forced the inhabitants to hide behind the impregnable Acropolis. The Amazons set up their camp on the hill of the Areopagus and kept the Athenians under siege. The Athenians made forays several times, trying to drive out the formidable warriors. Finally, a decisive battle took place.
Antiope herself fought alongside Theseus against the very Amazons whom she had previously commanded. Antiope did not want to leave her hero-husband, whom she dearly loved. In this formidable battle, death awaited Antiope. A spear thrown by one of the Amazons flashed in the air, its deadly tip pierced Antiope’s chest, and she fell dead at the feet of her husband. Both troops looked in horror at Antiope, who had been struck to death. Theseus bowed in grief over the body of his wife. The bloody battle was interrupted. Full of sorrow, the Amazons and Athenians buried the young queen. The Amazons left Attica and returned to their distant homeland. For a long time there was sadness in Athens for the untimely death of the beautiful Antiope.

Theseus and Peirifoy

In Thessaly there lived a tribe of warlike Lapiths (Lapiths are a mythical people), and the mighty hero Peirithous reigned over them. He heard about the great courage and strength of the invincible Theseus and wanted to measure his strength with him. To challenge Theseus to battle, Peirifou went to Marathon and there, in rich pastures, he stole a herd of bulls that belonged to Theseus. As soon as Theseus found out about this, he immediately set off in pursuit of the kidnapper and quickly overtook him. Both heroes met. Dressed in shining armor, they stood opposite each other, like formidable immortal gods. Both of them were amazed by the greatness of each other, both were equally filled with courage, both were powerful, both were beautiful. They threw down their weapons and, holding out their hands to each other, entered into an alliance of close, indestructible friendship and exchanged weapons as a sign of this. Thus, the two great heroes, Theseus and Peirifou, became friends.
Shortly after this meeting, Theseus went to Thessaly for the wedding of his friend Peirithoe with Hippodamia. This wedding was magnificent. Many glorious heroes gathered for it from all over Greece. Wild centaurs, half-humans and half-horses, were also invited to the wedding. The wedding feast was rich. The entire royal palace was full of guests reclining at the banquet tables, and some of the guests - since there was not enough space in the palace for all those gathered for the wedding - feasted in a large, cool grotto. Incense was smoked, wedding hymns and music were heard, and the cheerful cries of the feasters were heard loudly. All the guests praised the bride and groom, who shone among everyone with her beauty, like a heavenly star. The guests feasted merrily. The wine flowed like a river. The feast shouts grew louder and louder. Suddenly, intoxicated with wine, the most powerful and wild of the centaurs, Eurytus, jumped up and rushed at the bride. He grabbed her with his powerful hands and wanted to kidnap her. Seeing this, other centaurs rushed at the women who were at the feast. Everyone wanted to take possession of the spoils. Theseus, Peirifou and the Greek heroes jumped up from the banquet tables and rushed to protect the women. The feast was interrupted and a frantic battle began. Heroes did not fight with centaurs with weapons. They came to the feast unarmed. Everything served as a weapon in this battle: heavy goblets, large vessels for wine, legs of broken tables, tripods on which incense had just been burned - everything was put into use. Step by step, the heroes are pushing the wild centaurs out of the feast hall, but the battle continues outside the hall. Now the Greek heroes are fighting with weapons in their hands, covered with shields. The centaurs uproot trees and throw entire rocks at the heroes. Theseus, Peirithous, Peleus and Nestor, the son of Peleus, fight ahead of the heroes. A bloody mound of centaurs' bodies piles higher and higher around them. The slain centaurs fall one after another. Finally, they wavered, fled and took refuge in the forests of high Pelion. The heroes of Greece defeated the wild centaurs, and few of them escaped the terrible battle.

Elena's kidnapping. Theseus and Peirifoy decide to kidnap Persephone. Death of Theseus

Peirifoy's beautiful wife, Hippodamia, did not live long; she died in the full bloom of her beauty. The widowed Peirifoy, having mourned his wife, after some time decided to marry again. He went to his friend Theseus in Athens, and there they decided to kidnap the beautiful Helen. She was still a very young girl, but the fame of her beauty resounded far throughout Greece. Friends arrived secretly in Laconia and kidnapped Helen while she was dancing merrily with her friends during the festival of Artemis. Theseus and Peirifoy grabbed Helen and quickly carried her to the mountains of Arcadia, and from there, through Corinth and Isthmus, they brought her to Attica, to the fortress of Athens. The Spartans rushed in pursuit, but could not overtake the kidnappers. Having hidden Elena in the city of Athens, in Attica, the friends cast lots to see which of them should own the wondrous beauty. The lot fell to Theseus. But even earlier, the friends swore an oath to each other that the one who gets the beautiful-haired Elena must help the other get a wife.
When Helen went to Theseus, Peirifoy demanded from his friend that he help him get Persephone, the wife of the terrible god Hades, ruler of the kingdom of the shadows of the dead, as his wife. Theseus was horrified, but what could he do? He made an oath, he could not break it. He had to accompany Peirifoy to the kingdom of the dead. Through a gloomy crevice near the village of Colona, ​​near Athens, friends descended into the underworld. There, in the kingdom of horrors, both friends appeared before Hades and demanded that he give them Persephone. The gloomy ruler of the kingdom of the dead was angry, but hid his anger and invited the heroes to sit on a throne carved into the rock at the very entrance to the kingdom of the dead. As soon as both heroes sat down on the throne, they became rooted to it and could no longer move. This is how Hades punished them for their wicked demand.
While Theseus remained in the kingdom of Hades, the brothers of the beautiful Helen, Castor and Polydeuces, looked everywhere for their sister. Finally, they found out where Theseus hid Helen. They immediately besieged Athens, and the impregnable fortress could not stand. Castor and Polydeuces took her, freed her sister, and together with her they took Theseus’s mother, Ephra, into captivity. Castor and Polydeuces gave power over Athens and all of Attica to Menestheus, Theseus’s longtime enemy. Theseus spent a long time in the kingdom of Hades. He suffered severe torment there, but finally the greatest of the heroes, Hercules, freed him.
Theseus returned again to the light of the sun, but this return did not bring him joy. Impregnable Athens was destroyed, Helen was freed, his mother was in grave captivity in Sparta, the sons of Theseus, Demophon and Acamant, were forced to flee from Athens, and all power was in the hands of the hated Menestheus. Theseus left Attica and retired to the island of Euboea, where he had possessions. Misfortune now accompanied Theseus. The king of Skyros, Lycomedes, did not want to give Theseus his possessions; he lured the great hero onto a high cliff and pushed him into the sea. Thus the greatest hero of Attica died from the treacherous hand. Only many years after the death of Menestheus, the sons of Theseus returned to Athens after the campaign at Troy. There, in Troy, the sons of Theseus found his mother Ephra. She was brought there as a slave by the son of King Priam, Paris, along with the beautiful Helen he kidnapped.

Theseus, Theseus - in ancient Greek mythology, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus and Efra, the 10th king of Athens.

The name Theseus indicates strength. Theseus belongs to the generation of heroes before the Trojan War. The birth of Theseus is unusual. On his father’s side, Theseus had among his ancestors the autochthon Erichthonius, born from the seed of Hephaestus on earth and raised by Athena, and the autochthon Kranai and the first Attic king Cecrops. Theseus's ancestors were wise half-snake, half-human people. However, Theseus himself is a representative of pure heroism, he is simultaneously the son of man and god. On his mother’s side, Theseus descends from Pelopes, the father of Pittheus, Atreus and Thyestes, and therefore from Tantalus and, finally, from Zeus himself.

Being childless, Aegeus went to the oracle, but could not guess his answer. But the oracle was solved by the Troezen king Pittheus, who realized that power in Athens would belong to the descendants of Aegeus, and, having given the guest a drink, put him to bed with his daughter Ephra. On the same night, Poseidon became close to her, or had coupled with her the day before on the island of Spheros. Thus, the son born of Ephra had (as befits a great hero) two fathers - the earthly Aegeus and the divine Poseidon.

Labors of Theseus

Leaving Ephra, Aegeus asked to raise his future son, without naming his father’s name, and left him his sword and sandals, so that, having matured, Theseus, wearing his father’s sandals and with his sword, would go to Athens to Aegeus, but so that no one would know about it. I didn’t know, because Aegeus was afraid of the machinations of the Pallantids (the children of Pallant’s younger brother, who claimed power due to Aegeus’ childlessness). Ephra hides the true origin of Theseus and Pittheus spread the rumor that the boy was born from Poseidon (the most revered god in Troezen). When Theseus grew up, Ephra revealed to him the secret of his birth and ordered him, taking Aegeus’ things, to go to Athens to his father.

Even before leaving Troezen, Theseus, having become a young man, dedicated a lock of hair to the god Apollo in Delphi, thereby, as it were, entrusting himself to the god and concluding an alliance with him. Theseus did not go to Athens the easy way - by sea, but by land, through the Isthmus of Corinth, along a particularly dangerous road, where robbers, children and descendants of monsters lay in wait for travelers on the way from Megara to Athens. Theseus killed Periphetus, Sins, the Crommion pig, Sciron, Cercyon, Procrustes and Damastus. In Athens, King Aegeus fell under the power of the sorceress Medea, who found shelter with him and hoped that her son from Aegeus, Mede, would receive the right to the throne.

Theseus came to Athens as a liberator from monsters, a beautiful young hero, but was not recognized by Aegeus, to whom Medea instilled fears of the stranger and forced him to drug the young man with poison. During the meal, Theseus pulled out his sword to cut the meat. The father recognized his son and threw away the cup of poison.

Theseus also had to contend with 50 Pallantides whom he ambushed. Having exterminated his cousins ​​and expelled their allies, Theseus established himself as the son and heir of the Athenian king. Theseus glorified himself as a worthy heir to royal power during the clash of Athens with the Cretan king Minos, who demanded tribute of 7 boys and 7 girls every nine years as atonement for the death of his son Androgeus.

When Minos came for the third time for tribute, Theseus decided to go to Crete himself to measure his strength with the monstrous Minotaur, to whose devouring the victims were doomed. The ship set off under a black sail, but Theseus took with him a spare white one, under which he was supposed to return home after defeating the monster. On the way to Crete, Theseus proved to Minos his descent from Poseidon by retrieving from the bottom of the sea a ring thrown by Minos. Theseus and his companions were placed in a labyrinth, where Theseus killed the Minotaur. Theseus and his companions emerged from the labyrinth thanks to the help of Ariadne, who fell in love with Theseus. At night, Theseus with the Athenian youth and Ariadne secretly fled to the island of Naxos. Theseus, caught there by a storm, not wanting to take Ariadne to Athens, left her while she was sleeping. However, Ariadne was kidnapped by Dionysus, who was in love with her. According to a number of mythographers, Theseus was forced to leave Ariadne on the island, because Dionysus appeared to him in a dream and said that the girl should belong to him. Theseus went further, forgetting to change the sails, which caused the death of Aegeus, who threw himself into the sea when he saw the black sail and thereby became convinced of the death of his son. According to legend, this is why the sea is called the Aegean.

Other exploits of Theseus

Theseus took part in the Calydonian hunt, as well as in the battle with the centaurs who were rampaging at the wedding of Pirithous, Theseus's closest friend. But he was not among the Argonauts, since at that time he was helping Pirithias to get himself the goddess of the kingdom of the dead, Persephone, as his wife. By this act, Theseus crossed the limit of what was possible, established by the gods for heroes, and thereby became a disobedient and daring hero. He remained in Hades, where he was forever chained to the rock of Pirithous, if not for Hercules, who saved Theseus and sent him to Athens.

An equally daring act of Theseus was his abduction of Helen, who was recaptured by her brothers and later became the cause of the Trojan War. Returning from his trip to the kingdom of Hades, he found the throne occupied by Menestheus. Theseus was forced to go into exile, unable to pacify his enemies. He secretly transported the children to Euboea, and he himself, having cursed the Athenians, sailed to the island of Skyros, where Theseus’s father once had land. But the king of Skyros, Lycomedes, not wanting to part with his land, treacherously killed Theseus by pushing him off a cliff.

Historical prototype

Eusebius of Caesarea in his chronography calls Theseus the 10th king of Athens, who reigned 30 years after Aegeus from 1234 to 1205. BC e. Plutarch, in his biography of Theseus, provides evidence of the real existence of such an ancient king in Athens. Many details were taken by Plutarch from Philochorus, an author of the 3rd century BC. e.

During the reign of Theseus, the Athenians killed the son of Minos Androgeus, for which Athenian boys had to pay tribute to Crete. However, Theseus himself went to the competition established by Minos in memory of his deceased son, and defeated the strongest of the Cretans, the Minotaur, in the fight, as a result of which the boys’ tribute was canceled.

Theseus gathered the Athenians, who lived scattered throughout their country, into a single community, and became the actual founder of Athens. Here is how Plutarch (“Theseus”) writes about it:

“He gathered all the inhabitants of Attica, making them a single people, citizens of one city, whereas before they were scattered, it was difficult to convene them, even if it was about the common good, and often discord and real wars flared up between them. Going around dem after dem and clan after clan, he explained his plan everywhere, ordinary citizens and the poor quickly bowed to his admonitions, and to influential people he promised a state without a king, a democratic system that would give him, Theseus, only the place of a military leader and guardian of the laws, for the rest, he will bring equality to everyone - and he managed to persuade some, while others, fearing his courage and power, which by that time were already considerable, preferred to yield with kindness rather than submit to coercion. He erected a single prytaneia and a council house common to all in the current old part of the city, calling the city Athens (...) In an effort to further enlarge the city, Theseus invited everyone into it, offering citizenship rights (...) But he did not allow disorderly crowds of settlers caused confusion and disorder in the state - he for the first time identified the classes of nobles, landowners and artisans, and left the nobles to judge the worship of God, occupy the highest positions, as well as teach laws and interpret divine and human institutions, although in general he seemed to equalize all three classes among themselves . The fact that Theseus, according to Aristotle, was the first to show favor towards the common people and renounce autocracy, is evidently evidenced by Homer, who in his “List of Ships” calls only the Athenians “the people.”

Theseus kidnapped one of the Amazons, Antiope, because of which the Amazons invaded Attica, and only with great difficulty did the Athenians defeat the warriors. After the death of Antiope, Theseus took Phaedra as his wife and had a son, Hippolytus, with her. Then Theseus, already over 50 years old, and his friends went to Epirus for the daughter of the king of the Molossians (an Epirus tribe), where he was captured and thrown into prison. When he was able to return to Athens, he found a dissatisfied people, incited against him by Menestheus. Having been defeated in the fight against his enemies, Theseus retired to the island of Skyros, and died there, either killed by the king of Skyros, Lycomedes, or simply falling off a rocky cliff.

According to Eusebius, Theseus was expelled from Athens by ostracism, a rule against tyranny, which he was the first to introduce as a law. Menestheus took the Athenian throne.

In the cycle of myths about Theseus, historical facts are hidden under a legendary shell, although the patriotic fantasy of the Athenians introduced into these tales much borrowed from other myths, greatly embellished them, and transferred to their tribal hero much that was the result of later cultural development. The mythical Theseus is a representative of the Greek tribe that occupied the Troezen region, the northern coast of the Peloponnese, Isthmus, Megara, Attica and Euboea and whose common name later became the name Ionians. Poseidon the Shaker (Poseidon Aegeus), who was the main local god on Isthmus, was the father of Theseus; Athena and Apollo patronized him. In the myth, Theseus went to Athens from Troezen, an ancient Ionian city, founded a service to Poseidon on Isthmus in a cleared pine forest, established competitions and military games in his honor, at which the Athenians continued to enjoy the rights of special honor even in historical times, when Megara and Isthmus had already had long been occupied by another tribe, the Dorians. According to the myth, Theseus liberated Athens and Megara from the yoke of the Phoenicians, whose representative in the legend is the Cretan king Minos; He expelled from Greece the Phoenician worship of the sun god Moloch and the goddess of love Asherah-Astarte and united the former small independent communities of one tribe into one state, the capital of which was the ancient fortified city of Cecropia.

The Amazons, from whose invasion the mythical Theseus liberated Attica, also personify Phoenician-Syrian worship. Next we will see that in all those areas of Asia Minor where, according to Greek legends, the Amazons lived, there were famous sanctuaries of the Syrian goddess of fertility; in which women dressed in men's clothing and armed performed military dances, and crowds of temple servants, hieroduls, performed fantastic rituals. There can hardly be any doubt that the myths about Theseus’s victory over the Amazons and the Marathon bull are echoes of legends about the displacement of Eastern rites and sacrifices by the Greek cults of Poseidon and Athena, personified in Theseus. In Attica there were “Amazonian graves”, ancient monuments around which folk stories about the invasion of the Amazons were grouped; poets and artists developed these folk legends about warlike girls, and subsequently the mythical victory of Theseus over the Amazons began to signify the victory of Hellenism over the east.

The myth that Theseus united all of Attica into one state is probably also based on historical facts. It is very possible that some warlike king of the ancient fortified city on Ilissa - the Athenian Acropolis - conquered other small states into which Attica was divided, forced the inhabitants of neighboring communities to move to the foot of the Acropolis, and forced communities less close to recognize their power. Myths about Theseus say that he established the festival of Sinekios (unification of settlements), and made the ancient Athenian harvest festival a holiday of state unity (“Panathenaic”, that is, “All-Athensian” holiday). The myth also attributes to Theseus the establishment that Greeks from other regions could settle in Athens, and that, although they would not have the rights of Athenian citizens, they would enjoy the protection of laws; This myth makes Theseus the establisher of a custom according to which the laws of the metics have long enjoyed the protection of the laws. When small independent communities are united into one state, the population of this state turns out to consist of people of different appearances, different classes and professions; therefore, the legend said that Theseus divided the inhabitants of Attica into classes of noble people (eupatrides), farmers (geomors) and artisans (demiurges). This myth was so ingrained in the memory of the people that it survived even after the emergence of the later idea of ​​Theseus as the founder of a democratic system. People of ancient and wealthy families, who had long been involved in military affairs, of course, occupied a privileged position; these noble warriors, who were the king’s comrades in war, were, of course, his comrades in government, in court, and at feasts in his palace (Prytanea). When Athens was already a republic, it was considered the greatest honor to dine at the public expense in the government palace, which retained the name Prytaneia. The custom of rewarding people with this honor was probably a remnant of the customs of the times of the kings.

So, the myth of Theseus was based on historical legends. Subsequently, these tales were decorated with the imagination of poets, artists and borrowings from legends about other heroes, especially Hercules. The basis for the wonderful myth about the faithful friendship between Theseus and Pirithous could be that during the invasion of mountain tribes into the Peneus valley, two old Thessalian families expelled by aliens moved to Athens, one of which was considered descended from Pirithous. There was a legend that when the Athenians fought on the Marathon field for the freedom of their homeland, the giant Theseus rose from the ground and fought ahead of the Athenians, helping them repel the Asians, just as he once defeated a bull that came to the Marathon field from the east. The hero who founded the Athenian kingdom, of course, could not help but take part in the most glorious event in the history of this state. The legend that Theseus fought at the Battle of Marathon increased the popularity of the name of this mythological hero among the Athenian people. And probably this revival of love for Theseus was the reason that the gods ordered the Athenians to transport his bones from Skyros, where he died, to Athens. Eagle showed the tomb of Theseus to the Athenian embassy. In the tomb, near the bones of the giant, lay his sword and spear. The bones and weapons were brought to Athens and solemnly buried in the city. The temple of Theseus was built over this tomb and decorated with excellent sculptures of his exploits. An annual festival of Theseus was established. Slaves and other persecuted people who managed to escape to the temple of Theseus found inviolable shelter for themselves there.

Myths about Theseus

The myth of the birth of Theseus

The Athenian king Aegeus, from the family of Erechtheus, married twice, but had no children from either wife. He had already begun to turn grey, and he had to face a lonely and joyless old age. And so he went to Delphi to ask the oracle about how to get him a son and heir to the throne? The oracle gave Aegeus a dark answer, which he could not explain to himself; Therefore, from Delphi he went straight to Troezeni, to King Pittheus, famous for his wisdom: he cherished the hope that Pittheus would understand the oracle’s fortune-telling for him. Having delved into the words of the foreshadowing, Pittheus saw that the Athenian king was destined to have a son who, with his valiant deeds, would gain great glory among people. In order to make his family partake of this glory, Pittheus gave his daughter Ephra to the Athenian king, but this marriage considered it necessary to hide from the people for the time being; and when Ephra gave birth to a son, Pittheus spread the rumor that the father of the newborn baby was Poseidon, the god of the sea. The baby was named Theseus, and his grandfather diligently took care of his upbringing. Aegeus, soon after his marriage to Ephra, left Trezena and again retired to Athens: he was afraid that his closest relatives, the fifty sons of Pallant, would take over his power. Leaving Trezena, Aegeus buried a sword and a pair of sandals in the ground under a heavy stone block and ordered his wife Ephra: when their son grows up and reaches such strength that he is able to move a block of stones, let her then force him to take out the sword buried in the ground and sandals and with these signs will send him to Athens. Until then, Theseus should not have known anything about his origin.

The myth of Theseus' exploits on the way to Athens

When Theseus was sixteen years old, his mother took him to a stone on which he was to test his strength. Without difficulty, the young man lifted the heavy block and took out a sword and sandals from under it. Then Efra revealed to her son who his father was and ordered him to go to Athens. The strong and courageous young man immediately began to prepare for the journey. His mother and grandfather asked Theseus to go to Athens by sea, and not by land: the sea route was safer, and along the dry route to Athens, on the Isthmus of Corinth, many monstrous giants lived, and many wild animals roamed. In former times, Hercules cleared the earth of unclean monsters: he fought with them everywhere; Now Hercules is in Lydia, in bondage to Omphale, and all the wild monsters and villains, who had hitherto hidden out of fear of the hero, roam freely around the world and commit all sorts of atrocities without hindrance. Listening to the speeches of his mother and grandfather, young Theseus decided to take upon himself the service to which, before him, Hercules had devoted himself. Theseus was related to Hercules on his mother's side (Ephra and Alcmene were the granddaughters of Pelops) and felt in himself the presence of the spirit and strength of the great hero, who gained worldwide fame with his valor. From early childhood, Theseus chose him as a model and looked forward to the time when he would be able, like his idol, to accomplish great, heroic deeds. He also did not want to appear before his father without becoming famous for any great deed: not by sword and sandals - let him recognize in him his son and descendant of the valiant Erechtheus by great and glorious deeds. Theseus thought so and did not go to Athens by sea, but went by a more dangerous, dry route.

As soon as Theseus crossed the border of his grandfather’s kingdom and entered the region of Epidaurus, in the middle of the forest he came across a predatory giant - Periphetus. Attacking travelers, Periphetus hit them with a heavy iron club. The young man fearlessly went to meet him and, after a short struggle, overpowered him and put him to death. Theseus took the iron club of the slain enemy and carried it with him constantly - just as Hercules wore the skin of Nemean flax. On the Isthmus of Corinth, in a pine forest dedicated to Poseidon, Theseus met another predator - Sinis. Sinis tormented and killed passers-by who fell into his hands in the most painful way: bending two pine trees to the ground, he tied his victim to their tops, and the pine trees, straightening up, tore the body of the unfortunate sufferer. Theseus also killed this predator and, at the site of his victory over him, on the Corinthian isthmus (isthmus), later, when he was already king in Athens, he founded the Isthmian Games in honor of Poseidon. The young and beautiful daughter of a predatory giant fled from Theseus and hid in a desert country overgrown with dense bushes; Hiding in the bushes, she, with childish simplicity, begged them to hide her from the stranger and promised never to tear a single branch from them or burn them in the fire. Theseus called her to him in a friendly manner, assured her that he would not do her any harm, and took charge of her fate. Subsequently, he married her to Dioneus, the son of the Ehalian king Eurytus. Her descendants never burned the branches of those bushes that once gave shelter to their ancestor in their thicket.

Walking further, Theseus came to the dense Kromion forest, in the thicket of which lived a terrible boar, which caused many troubles to the inhabitants of the surrounding areas; Theseus promised to free them from the monster and, having found the boar, killed it. Then he reached the border of Megara, to the so-called Skiron rock. At the top of it, on the edge of a steep cliff towards the sea, a giant sat and acted atrociously on the travelers passing by: with impudent curses, he forced them to wash his feet, and while they were doing this, he kicked them off the cliff into the sea; The bodies of the travelers crashing against the rock were devoured by a gigantic turtle. Theseus threw the villain himself into the sea. At Eleusis, not far from the borders of Megara, the giant Kerkion came out against the young hero and forced him to fight with himself; This giant forced all the foreigners passing by to enter into battle with him.

Theseus, the most experienced fighter of his time, overpowered Kerkion and killed him, and transferred power over the country to Hippophoi, the son of Poseidon and Alope, the beautiful daughter of the murdered Kerkion. At her very birth, Alope was abandoned by her father without care; the mare gave her milk to drink, and the shepherds of neighboring countries were her educators. Beyond Eleusis, Theseus met the ferocious Damaste, who invited passers-by to his house and then put them to the most painful death. He had a bed on which travelers who entered his house were supposed to lie down: if the bed was short for them, Damastus cut off their legs; if the bed was long, he beat and stretched the traveler’s legs until the bed was just right for him. Therefore, Damaste was also called Procrustes - the puller. Theseus forced him to lie down on a terrible bed, and since Damaste’s gigantic body was longer than the bed, the hero cut off his legs, and the villain ended his life in terrible agony.

After so many exploits and adventures, Theseus arrived safely at the Kephissus stream. Here he was received in a friendly manner by some of the Phitalid clan, who cleansed him of the blood he had shed and escorted him to the city itself.

When the young hero in long Ionian clothes, with beautifully combed hair, walked through the streets of the city, the workers who were building the temple to Apollo saw him and began to mock “the girl who wanders the streets alone, without an escort.” Enraged, Theseus unharnessed the oxen from a cart standing nearby and launched the cart at the workers who were sitting above on the roof of the temple, who were mocking him. With amazement and fear they then saw that they were not dealing with a weak woman, and they were very glad when Theseus, leaving them, went on.

Theseus in Athens

Theseus entered the house of his father as a stranger and was not recognized by him. At that time, the evil and cunning Medea ruled the house of the old king; Having fled from Corinth, she arrived in Athens and was warmly received here by Aegeus, to whom she promised to return the strength of youth with her magic. Medea recognized the stranger as Theseus, the son of Aegean, and, fearing that he would push her out of his father’s house, she began to think about how to kill the young man. She assured the weak and fearful king that the stranger who had arrived at his house was a spy sent by enemies, and convinced the elder to poison the guest at dinner. At the table, Medea placed in front of the young man a drink containing poison.

Theseus, wanting to amaze his father with sudden joy, took out the sword for cutting meat, by which the old man was supposed to recognize his son in him. Aegeus was delighted and horrified then; he quickly threw the cup of poison on the floor and tightly hugged his son, whom he had been looking forward to for so long. Medea considered it best to immediately leave the house of the old man Aegeus and flee from the borders of his kingdom.

Aegeus immediately introduced his son to the assembled people and told about his exploits and adventures that had happened to him along the way. The people joyfully welcomed the young hero, their future king. Theseus soon had the opportunity to show the Athenians his courage and his strength. The fifty sons of Pallant, the Aegean brother, were still in the firm belief that after the death of their old, childless uncle, his power would pass into their hands. Now, when a son unexpectedly arrived from somewhere to the old man, about whom no one knew anything until now, this hope turned out to be in vain, and the wild Pallantides, in furious anger, attacked the city with weapons, intending to kill the old king and his son and take over the city. Approaching Athens, the Pallantids divided into two detachments: one went to the city gates, the other sat in ambush. The last detachment was supposed to attack Theseus from the rear during his struggle with the advanced Pallantides. Theseus, however, found out about the enemy’s plan and began by finding those of them who were hiding in ambush and killing them all to the last; the rest then fled. Thus Aegeus was freed from the oppression and dangers with which the love of power of his nephews constantly threatened him; from then on his days passed peacefully. Soon after this victory, the young prince showed great benefit to all the inhabitants of Attica. On the Marathon fields, a terrible bull raged, about which we already know from the story of Hercules. This bull was brought by Hercules from Crete to Mycenae and given to Eurystheus; having fled from Mycenae, he wandered around Hellas for a long time, finally came to the country of Marathon and became here a monster and a scourge of people and animals. Theseus fought the bull, brought it to Athens and sacrificed it to Apollo.

The myth of Theseus and his son Hippolytus

After the death of Aegeus, Theseus became king in Athens. Through wise institutions and laws, he established such order in the state that he was revered as the true founder of the Athenian kingdom. He ruled meekly, lovingly, and his kingdom was considered a refuge for all the oppressed and persecuted. So, in addition to the glory of a great hero, Theseus gained the glory of a wise ruler. But the thirst for exploits that tormented his soul gave him no rest and often took him far beyond the borders of the Athenian kingdom. He took part in the Calydonian hunt, in the campaign of the Argonauts and, together with Hercules, went to the country of the Amazons. During his last campaign, he captured the Amazonian queen Antiope, brought her to Athens and here he married her. The war-loving Amazons could not bear such shame. They marched against Hellas with a strong army to take revenge on the Greeks for their defeat and free their queen from captivity. They reached Athens and took the city by storm; The Athenians retired to the fortress, while the Amazons settled on the Areus hill. A hot battle broke out on the neighboring plain, in which Antiope, full of passionate love for her husband, fought with him in the ranks of the Athenian army until, struck in the chest by a spear, she fell at the feet of her husband. This sad loss for both sides weakened the fury of the battle and led to a solemn reconciliation. After peace was concluded, the Amazons retreated.

Antiope bore Theseus a son, Hippolytus. The father sent the boy to be raised in Trezena, with his maternal grandfather Pittheus. Hippolytus grew up and became a wonderful young man; many maidens burned with love for the handsome man. But the chaste young man was cold to beauty and love; his friend was the pure, virgin Artemis: with her he wandered through the wooded mountains, hunting deer and boars, and neglected his friendship with Aphrodite. The goddess of love flared up with anger at him for this and decided to destroy the proud man, instilling unclean love for him in the heart of his stepmother Phaedra. Phaedra was the daughter of Minos, the younger sister of Ariadne. Theseus married her when he was already in his old age. So similar was Phaedra to her elder sister that when Theseus brought a young wife into his home, it seemed to him as if he were reliving the happy days of his youth and seeing the fulfillment of the hopes and dreams of his youth. The only thing Theseus lost sight of was that his years did not correspond to the years of his young wife and that the beauty of his youth, with which he had once attracted love, had long since passed.

One day Hippolytus came from Trezena to Athens for the feast of the Eleusinian mysteries. Here Phaedra saw her stepson for the first time: Theseus was just as handsome in his youth. From the very first meeting, Phaedra passionately fell in love with the young man - such was the will of Aphrodite. She hid her passion and tried to suppress it, but her will was powerless, she had no power over herself. When Hippolytus went back to Troezena, Phaedra built a temple to Aphrodite on a high hill; Here she often sat for whole days and, tormented by passion, looked at the far shore, where her stepson lived. Soon Theseus was supposed to go with her to Troezena and stayed there for quite a long time. The proximity of the beautiful young man further strengthened Phaedra’s love for him. She no longer wanted to suppress her passion: the torment of love became pleasure and happiness for her. While Hippolytus was practicing martial arts in the arena, the queen sat under the shade of a myrtle tree, on the steps of the temple of Aphrodite, which stood on a nearby hill, and from here, unseen by anyone, she admired the beauty of the young man and did not take her eyes off him, and when the torment of passion became unbearable, the queen, bursting into tears, tore myrtle leaves and pierced them with a pin. So her aching heart was tormented by destructive passion; she dried up and her beauty faded. Day and night she languished in her lonely mansion, pale and sick, and finally decided to die. For three days she rejected all food and, half-dead, lay motionless on her bed, and no one could understand the reasons for her suffering. Finally, her old nurse comes to the queen and begins to ask about her grief; the unfortunate queen reveals her secret to her. The cunning nurse, who had a reckless, blind love for her mistress, decided to reveal to Hippolyte how his stepmother loved him, and to convince him not to reject her feelings. Having learned about the nurse's intentions, Phaedra did not encourage her with a single word, but did not forbid her to carry out her plans.

Hippolytus had just returned from the mountain forests, where he was hunting with his peers. In their cheerful company, singing hymns of praise, he went to the temple of the protector of his virgin Artemis. Having decorated the statue of the goddess with a wreath of flowers, he carefreely went back to the house of his grandfather Pittheus. Here his old nurse met him. Having taken an oath from the prince that he would not reveal to anyone what he heard from her, the old woman told him about Phaedra’s passion and convinced him not to reject this passion. With horror and indignation, the chaste young man listened to the story and proposal of the old woman and, indignant, cursing all the women, immediately left the house and went to the mountains to wander through the forests - here, in the lap of peaceful, immaculately beautiful nature, he sought peace for his troubled soul and did not wanted to return home until his father, who was in Delphi at that time, returned.

When Phaedra learned about how angry Hippolytus was inflamed while listening to the speeches of her nurse, and how quickly he then disappeared from the house, shame and despair took possession of the soul of the unfortunate queen, and she decided to kill herself. With what eyes would she now look at her husband and at the young man, who already knew her guilt and abhorred her passion? Only death - so it seemed to the unfortunate woman - could save her from shame and atone for her guilt; With death, she thought to take revenge on the one who, with his proud contempt, had insulted and broken her heart: he too could not escape death, a common fate would befall them both, and he would no longer look with proud indifference at her evil fate. Retiring to her bedchamber, the queen threw a noose around her neck and hanged herself. But before her death, she wrote on a tablet to her husband that in his absence, Hippolytus had made an attempt on her honor and that only by death could she save herself from the shame that threatened her.

Decorated with a laurel wreath, Theseus calmly returned from Delphi, hoping that he would be greeted with joyful greetings from his household; but, having approached the house, contrary to his expectations, he hears the screams of women and the sad cries of slaves. Has the elderly Pitfey died, or has some misfortune happened to one of the young princes? Only he hears that it was not Pittheus who died - Phaedra died, she committed suicide. He quickly enters the house, rushes to the corpse and, desperate, mourns with bitter tears the loss of his wife - the best of all wives on earth. He sees her table in his hand - he takes this table and what does he read on it? Phaedra wrote to her husband in her own hand that his son Hippolytus had made an attempt on her honor and that this attempt was the reason for her suicide. Full of anger and unbearable grief, Theseus curses his criminal son, calls out to the storm-runner Poseidon: “Father Poseidon! You have always loved me like a son and once gave me a promise to fulfill my three desires; I pray: punish the criminal; if your promise was not false, let him not survive he of this day! If Lord Poseidon,” Theseus added, “does not send my son to Hades, I will expel him from the borders of our land: let him drag out his days in a foreign land in grief and need, burdened by his father’s curses.”

Theseus was still burning with anger when Hippolytus returned home. Knowing nothing about the reason for his father’s anger, he began to ask with sympathy about what happened in their house. With imperturbable calm, in full consciousness of his integrity, Hippolytus defended himself from the accusations and reproaches that his father showered, but, bound by an oath, he could not reveal the true reason for Phaedra’s suicide and did not convince his father of his innocence. Theseus expelled his son from his fatherland. Shedding bitter tears, before leaving, Hippolytus once again solemnly called upon the guardian of the oaths, Zeus, and Artemis, who knew the purity of his heart, as witnesses of his innocence.

The sun had not yet set on that day when a messenger appeared to Theseus with the news of the death of his son Hippolytus. The father, blinded by anger, asked with a bitter smile: who killed his son? “Did he not fall at the hands of the enemy, whose wife he insulted in the same way as his father’s wife?” “No,” answered the slave. “His own horses killed him, he was destroyed by the curse that you uttered over him when you called Poseidon’s punishment on his head.” - “Oh gods, oh Poseidon!” Theseus exclaimed. “You were merciful to me on this day, as my father heeded my prayer and fulfilled it! But tell me, messenger, how did the righteous punishment of an angry god strike the criminal?” “We were on the seashore,” the messenger began to tell, “we were washing and cleaning Hippolyte’s horses there, and then the news reached us that the prince had been expelled from his homeland forever by you. Soon after that, Hippolyte himself, accompanied by a crowd, came up to us saddened friends, and confirmed to us what we had heard from others; then he ordered the horses to be harnessed to the chariot: the land of his ancestors had now become a foreign land for him. When the horses were harnessed to the chariot, he took the reins in his hands and said, raising his hands to to the sky: "Zeus the All-Seer! Let death strike me if I am guilty of the iniquity being brought against me! Sooner or later, during my life or after death, let my father know how unfairly he treated me!" With these words he set off his horses, and we followed him along the road to Epidaurus and Argos. When, having passed Trezena, we arrived We were on our way to the Gulf of Saron, on the deserted shore of the sea, we heard peals of thunder, sounding as if from underground. The frightened horses pricked up their ears, and in fear we began to look around in all directions, looking for where the thunder sounds were coming from? Turn to the sea, we we saw an unheard of high rampart: that rampart rose to the skies and completely hid the rocks of the opposite shore from us. Soon the foaming, gray waves rushed with a noise to the shore, onto the road along which the prince’s chariot was driving, and from the waves came a huge, monstrous bull, from the wild the roar of which shook the coastal rocks and cliffs. Fear seized the horses. Your son, experienced in the art of driving a chariot, pulled the reins with all his might and tried in every possible way to restrain the mad horses; but, having bitten the bit, they rushed along the road, and there was no way to restrain them by force. Hippolytus tried to direct the horses towards the plain, but the bull rushed at them from this side, frightened them with his roar and drove them in the opposite direction - towards the rocky steep coast. So he drove the horses to the cliff; the horses rushed down and smashed the chariot. They rushed madly along the shore, dragging behind them, over the sand and over the stones, the prince, entangled in the reins; the head and body of the unfortunate man constantly beat against the stones and ribs of the coastal cliffs. We rushed to his aid, but could not catch up with the tirelessly racing horses. Finally, freeing himself from the broken reins, broken and bloody, he falls to the ground and lies still struggling with death. The horses disappeared from sight, and the bull also disappeared - as if he had been swallowed up by the earth. “Sir,” the messenger said in conclusion. “I am your servant, but you will never make me think that your son is criminal; in my eyes he will forever be the most virtuous of people."

Theseus, still convinced of Hippolytus’s criminality, said after a long silence: “I do not rejoice at the misfortune of my son, but I cannot even feel sorry for the villain. Bring him here; dying, I will convict him, he can no longer lock himself in his crime: the wrath of the gods - the punishers denounce him." While Theseus is waiting for the arrival of his dying son, the virgin goddess Artemis, a friend of Hippolytus, who accompanied him on hunts in the mountains and forests, suddenly appears and addresses the Athenian king with the following speech: “Why are you rejoicing, Theseus, at the death of your son? Unhappy! Believed "You have destroyed an innocent man with your wife's lying words! You have covered your head with eternal shame, and from now on there is no place for you among the truthful. Find out your ill-fated fate. Your wife Phaedra, inflamed by the goddess I hate, loved your son; she tried to suppress this love in herself, but did not have time, and died, listening to her old nurse. The nurse revealed the love of her mistress to Hippolytus: he rejected this love with indignation and horror. Then Phaedra wrote you a false letter and with it she destroyed your son; you believed the letter; but your son, who gave an oath to the nurse "To remain silent about what you heard from her, did not break your oath. You committed a great crime: carried away by anger, without examining the matter, you struck your son with a curse and destroyed him, an innocent one."

Theseus stands like a murdered man before the goddess. He now knows that his son is dying innocently, a victim of his father’s reckless anger. “I am lost,” Theseus exclaims. “There are no more joys in life for me!” With loud sobs, he rushes towards his son: covered in blood, beaten and barely alive, Hippolytus lies in front of him. He lived, however, for so long that he managed to forgive his grief-stricken father and absolve him of the guilt of innocently shed blood.

Full of deep sorrow, Theseus buried his son under the myrtle tree under which Phaedra so often sat, tormented by the pangs of love. And Phaedra’s body was buried under the same tree - in the place that she loved so much in the last days of her life: Theseus did not want to deprive his unfortunate wife of the honor of burial. The Troezen residents began to give Hippolytus the honors due to demigods, and established annual festivals in his memory. The virgins mourned the fate of the chaste young man, Artemis’s favorite, who accepted death from Aphrodite, who had been insulted by him; they sacrificed curls of hair to him and sang sweet songs in his honor.

A wise but childless king, Aegeus, once ruled in Athens. Once, saddened by the impossibility of having an heir, the king went to the oracle to find out the future of his possible descendants. But the oracle could not guess the answer. Then Aegeus turned to the king of the city of Troezen Pittheus with the same request. And when Pittheus, being a magician, carefully read the prophecy, he immediately realized that Aegeus would certainly give birth to an heir, moreover, he would perform many feats and become the ruler of Athens in the future.

Having excellently treated his dear guest, Pitfey put him to bed with his daughter Ephra. But that same night the sea god Poseidon also became close to her. After the allotted time, Aegeus and Ephra had a son named Theseus. Thus, the boy, as befits a hero, had two fathers - the earthly Aegeus and the divine Poseidon.

After the birth of his first child, Aegeus decided that the child’s stay in the royal palace was too dangerous. The fact is that the nephews of Aegeus, the sons of his brother Pallant, laid claim to power in Athens. And if they had learned about the existence of Theseus, they could have dealt with him without the slightest doubt. In order to avoid such a turn of events, it was decided to leave Theseus in Troezen, where he could live peacefully with his mother Ephroi and grandfather Pittheus. Leaving for Athens, Aegeus asked his wife not to tell his son who his father was. And when the boy becomes a young man, he must get the sword and sandals hidden under the heavy rock in Troezen, and go to Athens to find his father.

Raised until the age of sixteen Theseus in his grandfather's house. The wise Pitfey took care of his grandson in every possible way, rejoicing that he was superior in strength and dexterity to all his peers. But the time came, and Efra could no longer hide the secret from her son. She showed him the place where the king's weapons and shoes were located. Theseus easily lifted the rock and took out his father's relics. The time has come for the journey to Athens.

Sending Theseus on the road, Ephra and Pittheus warned him to go to Athens by sea and not by land, since the road that crossed the Corinthian isthmus was chosen for their raids by villains of all stripes - children and descendants of beast-like monsters. But Theseus, who one day had to meet the terrible Minotaur, was not afraid of danger. He was overwhelmed with the desire to repeat the famous 12 labors of Hercules and gain the glory of the great winner.

Labors of Theseus

The exploits of Theseus truly became a legend. Theseus passed his first test in Epidaurus, where he met the son of Hephaestus himself - the lame giant Periphetus, who wielded a huge iron club. Distinguished by his frantic, predatory disposition, Periphetus killed all travelers who asked for shelter, for which he received the nickname Bludgeon Man. Theseus defeated the villain, taking away his deadly club, which had served him well on the road.

Another opponent on Theseus’s path was the “bender of pine trees,” the ferocious robber Sinis. He tied every traveler he met by the arms and legs to the tops of two bent pine trees. With terrible force, the trees straightened and tore the unfortunate man into pieces. When Theseus approached the robber, he invited him to test his strength and help him tilt the pine tree. Theseus agreed, but promised that as soon as he let go of the tree from his hands, Sinis would fly into the sky. Having examined the remains of the victims who died from the treacherous killer, Theseus tied up the robber, then, bending two pine trees with his mighty hands, tied him to them and released the trees. So Sinis died the same death to which he doomed innocent people. The path through the Isthmus was now clear. Subsequently, in memory of his victory, Theseus established the Isthmian Games on the site where he defeated Sinis.

The meeting with the robber Sciron was another test for Theseus. The villain made his lair where the isthmus was the narrowest, and the road on both sides dropped steeply into the sea. Using his incredible strength, Sciron forced everyone who passed by to wash his feet. As soon as the man bent down, the cruel robber with a sharp push threw the unfortunate man from the cliff into the stormy waves of the sea, where he was broken to death, and the body was devoured by a monstrous turtle. As Theseus approached, Sciron also asked him to kneel down and wash his feet. Theseus obeyed for appearances, but still sank a little further from the edge of the cliff. At that same moment, Sciron, shouting that the traveler should go feed his turtle, tried to push Theseus off the cliff. But the evil plan failed, because the hero turned out to be more dexterous and was the first to push Skiron into the sea.

In Eleusis, Theseus had to enter into a duel with another robber, Kerkion, who forced him to single combat. The brave son of Aegeus grabbed Kerkion and crushed him to death in his death grip.

Almost at the very gates of Athens, Theseus met the giant “puller” Procrustes, who persuaded him to stay overnight. However, the giant was an evil murderer and torturer. Procrustes had a special bed prepared in his home, on which he laid everyone he managed to lure to him. If the bed turned out to be too long, then the robber beat the unfortunate man with a wooden hammer to stretch his body. If the bed was short, then he mercilessly chopped off the prisoner’s legs. The giant had the same villainous plan towards Theseus. However, Theseus put an end to these atrocities once and for all by mutilating the body of Procrustes with his own instrument of torture.

This was his last feat on the way to Athens. Approaching the city, Theseus, the future conqueror of the Minotaur, did not want to enter it, stained with the blood of Sinis, Sciron, Procrustes and other highwaymen. Although his struggle was fair, he still asked the temple servants to perform a cleansing rite on him at the altar of Zeus. Having heard about the exploits of Theseus, the templars warmly welcomed the young hero. They fulfilled his request and cleansed him from the filth of shed blood. Now Theseus could go to Athens, to his father Aegeus.

Theseus - son of Aegeus

Arriving at the royal palace, Theseus, the son of Aegeus, did not immediately admit to his elderly father who he really was, but only introduced himself as a stranger seeking protection. Aegeus did not recognize his son, but the sorceress Medea, who arrived from Corinth to Athens, recognized him and became Aegeus’ wife. And in order to earn the king’s favor, she promised to restore him to his former youth. Believing in the witchcraft power of Medea, Aegeus completely submitted to the insidious woman.

The power-hungry Medea immediately realized the danger she was in danger if Aegeus found out who this beautiful young man was. In order not to lose power over the king, she decided to destroy the hero, assuring the old king that the stranger was none other than a spy sent by his enemies. True, rumors about the exploits of Theseus had already reached Athens, and therefore Medea invited Aegeus to check whether he was so brave and courageous. She instructed to tame the Marathon bull, brought by Hercules from the island of Crete and devastating the fields in the vicinity of Athens. Theseus easily dealt with the huge fire-breathing animal, brought it to the city, where he sacrificed it to the goddess Athena.

After an unsuccessful attempt to get rid of Theseus, Medea decided to destroy him in another way. According to tradition, sacrifice was always accompanied by a feast. It was during a magnificent feast that the sorceress intended to poison the hero. But as soon as she placed the cup of poison on the banquet table, Theseus drew his sword to cut off a piece of sacrificial meat. Aegeus immediately recognized the sword that he himself had laid under a rock sixteen years ago as an inheritance to his newborn son. He looked at Theseus's feet and saw his sandals on them. Now he understood who this foreigner was. Surprised and delighted, he jumped up from his seat and with a sharp movement threw down the bowl with the deadly potion.

What about Medea? As could be expected, she was expelled from Athens in disgrace and fled with her relatives to Media. Aegeus solemnly announced to the entire Athenian people the arrival of his son, telling about his great exploits accomplished during the journey from Troezen to Athens. The townspeople rejoiced, welcoming the future king.

The rumor that Theseus had come to Athens reached the envious brother of Aegeus Pallant and his sons. With the arrival of Theseus, they had little hope of ruling in Athens after the death of Aegeus: now he had a legitimate heir. And then the Pallantides decided to take over the country by force. Knowing the mighty power of Theseus, they decided at a secret council that some of the soldiers would openly approach the walls of Athens, and some would hide in ambush. But Theseus managed to unravel this plan. He was the first to attack the Pallantides hiding in ambush and killed them all. When the warriors standing under the walls of Athens learned about the defeat of the brothers, they were overcome by such fear that they immediately fled. After this, Aegeus could reign calmly in Athens under the protection of his son.

Theseus and the Minotaur

Theseus himself had to enter into another extremely dangerous single combat - this time with the monstrous Minotaur. Theseus and the Minotaur were very powerful opponents, and it was impossible to predict the outcome of this struggle.

Every nine years, Minos, king of Crete, demanded seven girls and seven boys as tribute from Athens. They were sacrificed to the Minotaur - a monster with a human body and a bull's head, born from the wife of Minos Pasiphae and a bull settled on Crete by Poseidon. The Minotaur lived in an underground labyrinth - a string of endless, winding corridors, closed exits and intricate turns, created by the architect Daedalus. This labyrinth had a special history. Once upon a time Mi-nos had a son, Androgey, an intelligent young man and an excellent athlete. He was also famous for the fact that he invariably won the traditional Panathenian games in Athens, which constantly aroused the envy of Aegeus. And so, in order to destroy Androgeus, the king sent him to fight with the marathon bull. To the great sadness of Minos, in this battle Androgeus was killed by a violent beast. As punishment for the death of his son, Minos imposed a bloody tribute on Athens.

After Theseus dealt with the sons of Pallant, the time had come to send the young Athenians to the disastrous island. Theseus decided to become one of them. His father, overcome with grief, tried his best to dissuade him, but he was adamant, promising that he would certainly defeat the Minotaur and return home victorious. Aegeus was sure that he would never see his son again. And yet he made sure that on the ship, which was carrying sacrificial young men and women to Crete under a black mourning sail, there was a white sail in reserve: if successful, the king asked to raise it as a signal of victory, which could be seen from the Acropolis.

The Athenian envoys were met by Minos himself and his servants. During the athletes' performance, Minos' daughter Ariadne saw Theseus and immediately fell in love with him. When it was time to go into the labyrinth, secretly from her father, she gave Theseus, who volunteered to be the first, a ball of thread, one end of which he tied to a ledge at the very entrance, so as not to get lost on the way back. Unwinding the ball, Theseus moved towards the center of the labyrinth and, having reached it, found himself directly in front of the Minotaur, the most terrible creature of all that he had ever encountered.

Ariadne's thread

Theseus and the Minotaur fought to the death. Hero,practically unarmed,boldly repelled the attack of the terrible Minotaur and exhausted his strength until he broke his neck. Deprived of strength, but safe and sound, he, with the help of Ariadne's thread, reached the saving exit along with the Athenian boys and girls.

Having quickly equipped the ship, Theseus, together with Ariadne, set off on the return journey to Athens. But the beautiful Ariadne was not destined to become the wife of the famous hero. On the way back, Theseus came to the shore of Naxos. When he and his companions were relaxing on the shore of one of the islands, the god of wine and fun, Dionysus, appeared to him in a dream. He said that the gods were giving Ariadne as a wife to him, Dionysus. Not daring to contradict the will of the gods, sad Theseus continued on his way. And the beautiful Ariadna became a goddess, the wife of the great Dionysus.

Meanwhile, Theseus's ship rushed on black sails across the azure sea. The coast of Attica has already appeared in the distance. And it had to happen that Theseus, saddened by the loss of Ariadne, forgot to replace the black sails with white ones in case of a happy end to the journey. Standing on a high rock, Aegeus anxiously peered into the sea. A dark dot appeared in the distance, it gradually grew, approaching the shore. To his horror, the king sees the same black sails on the ship - that is, Theseus is no longer alive. In despair, Aegeus threw himself from a high cliff into the sea, and the waves threw only his lifeless body onto the shore. Since then, this sea has been called the Aegean. The grief-stricken Theseus mourned his father with great honors, and after the funeral he assumed power over Athens.

Like other heroes, the son of Aegeus had to fight the warlike Amazons, who constantly attacked Attica. During one of his campaigns, he kidnapped Queen Antiope, who bore him a son, Hippolytus.

Other dangerous exploits of Theseus are associated with the great hero Pirithous. Friendship between them arose under the following circumstances. The warlike Lapiths lived in Thessaly, ruled by the mighty hero Pirithous. He had long heard about the courage and power of the invincible Theseus and one day decided to compete with him. To challenge Theseus to battle, Pirithous went to Marathon and there, on rich pastures, stole a herd of bulls that belonged to the king. Having learned about such an unheard-of theft, Theseus set off in pursuit of the kidnapper and quickly overtook him. Both heroes stood in front of each other, like immortal gods. Both were amazed by the greatness of each other, both were equally filled with courage and courage. Convinced that they were equal in strength and courage, they threw down their weapons and, holding out their hands to each other, concluded a friendly alliance with each other, exchanging weapons as a sign of reconciliation.

Alas, the friendship of Theseus and Pirithous had a tragic continuation. The daring king of the Lapiths once decided to take Persephone herself, the goddess of the kingdom of the dead, as his wife. Theseus undertook to help him in this risky business, thereby violating the strict laws of the Olympians, for no one is allowed to enter the abode of Hades, not even heroes. As soon as the friends descended into the underworld in search of Persephone, their luck left them. Persephone's husband Hades, the god of the underworld, invited the travelers to dine. Having tasted the food, they tried to rise, but found that they were tightly chained to the suddenly petrified beds. So Theseus would have remained in the monastery of Hades if Hercules had not saved him, returning the hero to the earthly world. Pirithous remained forever in the underground kingdom of the dead.

Theseus is a famous “ancient” hero, fig. 3.1, 3.2. If in Fig. 3.1 Theseus is presented as it was customary to depict “ancient” Greek characters, then in an engraving supposedly from the 15th century, fig. 3.2, he looks like a medieval hero against the backdrop of a medieval city.

Rice. 3.1. Theseus. "Antique" statue. Taken from, p. 574, ill. 638.

Rice. 3.2. Theseus. Engraving from the Florentine Illustrated Chronicle, allegedly from the 15th century. Taken from, sheet 38.

As it turned out upon careful analysis, the biography of Theseus largely reproduces the “biography” of Hercules. The beginning and the end are, respectively, reflections of the youth of Andronicus-Christ and his last days. The middle are feats that are in many ways similar to the exploits of Hercules and King Arthur. They date back to the era of the 15th – 16th centuries. By the way, we have already noted that the name THESEUS is probably a slight distortion of the word THEOS, that is, GOD. Derived from the Slavic word DEYU, I CREATE. We have already briefly noted the imposition of Andronicus-Christ on Theseus. The time has come to discuss this important topic in more detail.

Let us turn again to the fundamental work of R. Graves, which contains all the main versions of the tales of Theseus. Let us repeat that the popularized fairy-tale adaptations of Greek myths are of little use for serious research due to excessive simplification and, as a consequence, the disappearance of many important facts.

Let's start with the conception and birth of Theseus. As we will see, here the girl Ephra is the Virgin Mary, Aegeus is the Gospel Joseph, and the god Poseidon is a reflection of the Holy Spirit.

That's what the Greek myth says. Aegeus was married twice, but his wives bore him no children. He turned to the oracle, whose answer was unclear. “On his way home, he stopped in Corinth, where Medea took a solemn oath from him that he would protect her from any enemies if only she sought refuge in Athens. For this, she promised, with the help of magic, not to leave him without an heir...

At that time Pittheus (king of Troezen - Auto.) was still living in Pis, Bellerophon began to ask for the hand of his daughter Ephra, but was sent in disgrace to Caria before the wedding could take place. Although Ephra was promised to Bellerophon, she had little hope of his return. Pittheus, grieving that his daughter is forced to wear girls, and experiencing the witchcraft of Medea (in favor of Aegeus - Auto.), who cast her spell on them from afar, got Aegeus drunk and put him to bed with Ephra. Some time later that night, Poseidon also enjoyed her body. It happened like this: in fulfillment of a dream sent to her by Athena, she (Ephra - Auto.) left the drunken Aegean and crossed by sea to the island of Spheria... Here, with the connivance of Athena, Poseidon took possession of her; Ephra subsequently renamed the island from Spheria to Hiera, and founded the temple of Apaturian Athena on it...

Poseidon, however, generously ceded to Aegeus the right to be called the father of any child that Efra gave birth to in the next four months.

When Aegeus woke up and saw that he was in Ephra’s bed, he said that if they had a son, he should not be abandoned to the mercy of fate or sent somewhere, but raised secretly in Troezen. After this, he sailed to Athens... but first left his sword and sandals under a hollow rock known as the Altar of Strong Zeus. The rock was located on the road from Troezen to Hermias. If the boy grows up, can move the rock and get these things, then he should be sent to Athens with them. All this time, Ephra had to remain silent so that Aegeus's nephews, the fifty sons of Pallant, would not conspire to kill the child. Aegeus inherited the sword from Cecrops.

In a place that is now called Genetlium and is located on the way from the city to the harbor of Troezen, Ephra gave birth to a boy. Some say that she immediately named him Theseus because the signs of his birth were laid down for him. Others say that he subsequently received this name in Athens. He grew up in Troezen, where his guardian Pittheus carefully spread the rumor that his father was Poseidon...

One day, Hercules, having lunch in Troezen with Pittheus, took off his lion skin and hung it on the back of a chair. When the palace boys entered, at the sight of the skin they ran away screaming. Only seven-year-old Theseus remained, who quickly grabbed the ax lying on the woodpile and boldly returned, ready to attack a real lion,” p. 248 – 249.

This story presents the main themes of the Immaculate Conception and the Nativity of Christ. In this case, we, of course, can already use the correspondences we discovered earlier: Hercules Christ and King Arthur Christ.

Aegeus is childless and asks for the help of the gods. The sorceress Medea promises to help him. Soon Aegeus gives birth to a son, Theseus, but it is unclear who the real father is: Aegeus or the god Poseidon. However, most mythographers claimed that the real father was the god Poseidon.

In the gospel version, Joseph is childless and marries Mary, who soon gives birth to a son, Jesus. However, Jesus is not the son of Joseph, but was born of the Holy Spirit.

Greek myth claims that Theseus' conception and birth occurred through a miracle. Namely, the sorceress Medea casts a spell on the girl Efra, and then the god Poseidon appears, lying on the bed with Efra. Therefore, Theseus's conception was miraculous and divine.

Likewise, the Gospels speak of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit to the Virgin Mary and of the divine Immaculate Conception of Christ.

In both versions, the mother of Theseus-Christ was previously a virgin.

The Greek legend emphasizes that the conception of Theseus occurred with the participation of the goddess Athena, and that Ephra then built a temple in honor of the Apaturian Athena. But we have previously been repeatedly convinced that Athena Parthenos is one of the reflections of the Virgin Immaculate, that is, Mary the Mother of God, see the book “Antiquity is the Middle Ages,” chap. 3:15. Probably the name APATURIYSKAYA mentioned above is a corruption of the name PARTHENOS. Thus, in the story of the conception of Theseus, the Immaculate Virgin, that is, the Gospel Virgin Mary, is almost directly named.

The “ancient” Greek version speaks of confusion as to who was Theseus’s real father: the mortal Aegeus or the immortal god Poseidon.

Similarly, in the history of King Arthur and the “ancient” Hercules, the problem of who was the true father of the hero was actively discussed. In all these versions, two possible fathers appear, one of whom is a mortal man, and the second is either a god or a mortal, but who takes possession of the girl with the help of a miracle or witchcraft. Moreover, “both fathers” find themselves on the marital bed one after another, after a very short time. Hence the confusion and later disputes: who is the real father? Although almost everyone was inclined to believe that the father was the god Poseidon.

Greek myth reports that Theseus was born four months after conception. This is significantly less than the usual nine months. Consequently, the birth of Theseus was clearly unusual, strange. Although nothing is reported about the circumstances of the birth, in the light of the parallels we have already discovered, the thought immediately arises of a possible caesarean section. After all, it was precisely this that gave rise to a huge bouquet of legends and interpretations in connection with the birth of Andronicus-Christ. See our books “The King of the Slavs” and “The Lost Gospels.”

The “ancient” Greek version says that Ephra gave birth to Theseus on the way from the city to the harbor of Troezen, that is, on the road. But this corresponds well with the Gospel statement that Jesus was born in a stable, that is, not in the city, but on the road. That is why the infant Christ was often depicted lying in a manger located in a stable, surrounded by domestic animals.

In the book “Christ was born in Crimea. The Mother of God died there,” we showed that Andronicus-Christ was born on the Crimean Cape Fiolent, that is, NEAR THE SEA. The Greek myth about Theseus reports the same thing: he was born not far from the SEA HARBOR of Troezen. That is, not far from the sea. By the way, the name GENETLIY mentioned here, as the birthplace of Theseus, could come from the word FIOLENT with the rearrangement of consonants and the transition F -> G, namely: fiolent = FLNT GNTL = genetliy.

The Greek version names here a certain HOLLOW ROCK known as the Altar of Strong Zeus and associated with Theseus. Since Zeus is Jesus, the idea arises that the “hollow rock” is the very famous cave in which, according to the Gospels, Jesus was born. Naturally, some later called it the Altar of Strong Zeus, that is, Jesus. We talk about the fact that in Crimea there really are caves directly connected with the Nativity of Andronicus-Christ in the book “Christ was born in Crimea...”.

In the myth of Theseus it is immediately said that the “hollow rock” (that is, the cave) was on the way from Troezen to Hermias. Maybe the name HERMIA turned out to be a slight distortion of the word CRIMEA? In fact: Crimea = KRM GRM = Hermius.

The Gospels say that Joseph, having learned about the upcoming birth of Jesus, wanted to part with Mary and secretly let her go, but still did not do this on the advice of an Angel (Matthew 1:19-24). But skeptical rabbinic-Jewish sources, cited in and outlining this episode in more detail, directly claim that Joseph, the adoptive father of Yeshua-Jesus, not only broke up with Mary, but also left the city altogether. For example, the following is said: “Joseph suspected that here (at the conception of Yeshua - Auto.) their neighbor is involved. He was very sad and did not know what to do. Then, having regained consciousness, he immediately went to his teacher R. Simeon ben Shetach and told him everything... Joseph said: if I stay here, I will be subject to blasphemy and shame, for she may become pregnant, and it will become known that while she was with me, she conceived and gave birth ahead of time... What about Joseph ( did - Auto.)? One day he gathered teachers close to his heart and told them: I am going to Babylon and staying there forever. The teachers answered: our son, go in peace! And he went to Babylon,” p. 357.

Greek legend says that a sword and sandals were left under a rock for Theseus. If, upon maturity, he can lift the rock and get them, then let him go to Athens. Theseus successfully fulfills this covenant and becomes a hero.

This episode is omitted from the Gospels. But in the story of King Arthur (one of the reflections of Christ), this story with the sword is developed in great detail and discussed with great pathos. The wonderful sword, stuck between a rock and a hard place, had to be pulled out. Many knights try, but to no avail. Only young Arthur succeeds in this, who therefore becomes king, p. 18.

We see that the Greek myth and the Arthurian cycle in this episode are almost identical.

Let's dwell a little on the story of the sword and sandals, or anvil. We have repeatedly noted that ancient authors often confused and “glued together” the youth of Christ with his crucifixion. In analyzing the story of Arthur, we discovered that the sword and anvil may have appeared in the story of Arthur's youth because they symbolized the cross, that is, the instrument of Christ's execution. The “anvil” is the cross to which Jesus was nailed with hammer blows. The same anvil-cross also appears in the Greek legend about Hera, chained to an anvil by Zeus. Let us recall that in some myths the goddess Hera is a reflection of Horus = Horus = Christ. So, one day the gods, including Hera, conspired and rebelled against Zeus. However, he won. “Since Hera was at the head of the conspiracy, Zeus, using golden bracelets, hung her by the wrists to the sky, and tied anvils to her feet. Although all the gods were deeply outraged by this act of Zeus, no one dared to come to the aid of Hera, despite her pitiful cries. In the end, Zeus promised to free her...", p. 37.

What is important for us here is the mention of the anvils or anvil to which Hera was tied, “lifted up to the sky.” Once again we see that the “anvil” was the name given to the crucifixion to which Christ was tied or chained.

As we have already said, the passion and crucifixion of Andronicus-Christ, that is, Hera (in this case), are described here in a refracted form. Now we can return to Theseus again. Here, instead of an anvil, we speak of “sandals” (?). In the light of what has been said, the story quoted above becomes clearer: that upon reaching maturity, Theseus “moved the rock” and took out from under it a sword and sandals, that is, an “anvil.” This is probably nothing more than a reflection of the crucifixion of Theos-Theseus on the cross-anvil.

What is raised or shifted rock? Most likely, it was about the lid of the stone coffin, which was lifted by an Angel at the moment of the Resurrection of Jesus. The Gospels say: “After the Sabbath had passed, at dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the Angel of the Lord, who descended from heaven, came and rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb and sat on it; his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow; Fearful of him, those who guarded them trembled and became as if they were dead” (Matthew 28:1-4). See fig. 3.3.

Rice. 3.3. Myrrh-bearing women at the Holy Sepulcher. Russian icon of the 16th century. Taken from, icon 110 in the “Christological Series”.

Now those “ancient” images of Theseus-Theos, in which he lifts a huge stone, are also becoming retroactive. See, for example, Fig. 3.4 and 3.5. As we begin to understand, before us is a reflection of the Resurrection of Christ. The lid of His stone tomb fell aside and Jesus Ascended. R. Graves comments on these ancient drawings “about Theseus” with the following words: “On a bas-relief from the Campanian Museum we see a hero surrounded by amazed family members and lifting a huge stone... This scene is also depicted on an ancient coin, but here Theseus is alone,” p. 565.

Rice. 3.4. Theseus lifting a stone slab. "Antique" coin. Taken from, p. 566, ill. 625.

Rice. 3.5. Theseus lifting a stone slab. There are amazed people around. As we now understand, this is how the Resurrection of Christ was symbolically depicted. Taken from, p. 566, ill. 626.

Christian tradition does emphasize that the Resurrection of Christ caused amazement to the people present. They are shown in the scene with the “ancient” Theseus lifting a stone slab, Fig. 3.5.

Note also that the rock raised by Theseus is called HOLLOW. Plutarch reports that Theseus lifted a huge stone “with a depression”, in which, they say, a sword and sandals were placed. Moreover, the recess is called “quite extensive.” Moreover, it is reported that at the same time “THE YOUTH SLIPPED UNDER THE STONE AND EASILY LIFTED IT”, vol. 1, p. 6 – 7. It turns out that Theseus was under a block of stone for some time. Apparently, this scene is a distortion of the Gospel story, according to which Christ found himself in a stone tomb (“slipped under the stone”), and then the slab lid lifted and Jesus Ascended (“easily lifted the stone”).

It is not surprising that later commentators on the “biography” of Theseus confused the cave where Christ Theseus was born (“hollow rock”) with the stone tomb (“hollow rock”) where the body of Christ Theseus was placed, after which he ascended. Again we see that people confused some of the circumstances of the birth and death of Jesus.

According to Christian tradition, after the Ascension of Christ, a shroud remained in his stone tomb in which his body was wrapped, fig. 3.6. Perhaps the “ancient classics,” already lost in the distant events of the 12th century, decided that the “sandals” of Theseus-Theos, that is, God, remained in the tomb.

Rice. 3.6. The shroud of Christ, remaining in the tomb after the Resurrection of Christ. Fragment of the icon “Myrrh-Bearing Women at the Holy Sepulcher.” Taken from, icon 110 in the “Christological Series”.

It is possible that, in particular, Mary the Mother of God, called in this Gospel scene “another Mary”, could appear at the opened stone tomb of Christ, fig. 3.7, see text above. As one would expect, in the parallel Greek version, his mother Ephra comes to the “raised stone” with Theseus. We quote: “Now he (Theseus - Auto.) was a strong, intelligent and prudent young man, and Ephra, leading him to the rock under which Aegeus hid his sword and sandals, told the story of his birth. HE WITHOUT DIFFICULTY MOVED THE ROCK FROM PLACE, which has since been called “Theseus’s Rock,” and took away the things left for him,” p. 249.

Rice. 3.7. Holy Wives at the Tomb of Christ. Augsburg master. Allegedly 1490. Taken from, inserted between p. 160 – 161.

Notice how Robert Graves, constantly coming across parallels between Zeus, Theseus, Hercules and Arthur, is forced to maneuver in order to invent an “explanation” within the framework of the Scaligerian version. For example, he writes: “Sandals and a sword are ancient symbols of royal power... Odin, Galahad and Arthur... were to perform a similar feat. Since the rock was called “Altar of Strong Zeus” and “Rock of Theseus,” it can be assumed that “Zeus” and “Theseus” were equal titles for the priest-king,” p. 250.

Instead of these vague arguments, a simple thing should be said: the listed characters of “antiquity” are reflections of the same personality. Namely, Emperor Andronicus-Christ (aka Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky = Apostle Andrew the First-Called).

When studying the biography of the “ancient” Orestes - another reflection of Christ (see our book “Christ was born in Crimea ...”), it turned out that Orestes-Christ cut off a lock of hair and put it ON THE GRAVE of a respected ancestor (Agamemnon). This plot was an integral part of the “death and resurrection of Orestes”. As we have shown, this probably meant that Orestes' head was shaved. That is, he had a bare forehead. But the name Golgotha ​​is translated like this: Place of the Execution (or Naked Forehead). “And they brought him (Christ - Auto.) to the place of Golgotha, which means: Place of Execution” (Mark 15:20-22). Probably, the Orestian myth in a dull form reports here about the crucifixion of Christ-Orestes on Golgotha.

It turns out that there is a similar plot in the “biography” of Theseus. Moreover, the story about the “shaved forehead” is also placed in the very place where (as we have just shown) the crucifixion on the cross-anvil is spoken of. Like Orestes, Theseus “shaved only the front part of his head... This type of tonsure and the method by which he performed this ceremony are still called Theseus,” p. 249. But the front part of the head is the forehead. It turns out that Theseus shaved his forehead. In other words, he had a bald (naked) forehead. Plutarch no longer understands the point and tries to “explain” Theseus’ partially shaved head with local customs, p. 6. However, it should be noted here that the Horde Cossacks actually sometimes shaved the hair on their heads, leaving only one long strand of hair, called an oseledets. But in the case of Theseus, most likely, the gospel scene is still visible here.

Probably, in the biography of Theseus-Christ-Orestes, the memory of Golgotha ​​was reflected in such a distorted form. In numerous paintings and icons, at the foot of the cross on which Christ was crucified, the skull of Adam, that is, the “bare forehead”, was depicted, Fig. 3.8, fig. 3.9. It is interesting that in some cases the entire skeleton of Adam was depicted, Fig. 3.10, 3.11.

Rice. 3.8. Crucifixion of Christ. At the foot of the cross is the skull of Adam. Miniature allegedly from 1513. Taken from, p. 55.

Figure 3.9. The skull of Adam, that is, the “bare forehead,” is at the foot of the cross. Taken from, p. 85.

Rice. 3.10. Russian Old Believer icon “Pokrov”, 19th century. At the foot of the cross on which Christ was crucified, the skeleton of Adam is depicted. Taken from, p. 176.

Rice. 3.11, Fragment of an Old Believer icon. Adam's skeleton at the foot of the cross on Golgotha. Taken from, p. 176.

Further, the “ancient Greeks” say that the birth and infancy of Theseus should be shrouded in mystery, so that the enemies - the fifty nephews of Aegeus - would not find out about everything and kill the baby, conspiring against him. Here are the details of this case.

“Pallant and his fifty sons, who even earlier declared that Aegeus (the adoptive father of Theseus - Auto.) is not a real Erechtheid and therefore has no right to the throne (Athens - Auto.), openly rebelled when they realized that this stranger could deprive them of any hope of ever ruling Athens. They divided their forces: Pallant with twenty-five sons and many servants went to the city from Sfett, and the other twenty-five sons lay in ambush at Gargett. However, Theseus, who learned about their plans... attacked those hiding in ambush and killed everyone. After this, Pallant prayed for peace,” p. 255.

Apparently, the conspiracy of Pallant and his fifty sons against Theseus is a reflection of the famous gospel massacre of infants on the orders of the evil king Herod. In both versions we are talking about an attempt to assassinate a rival king. Namely, in order to eliminate Jesus, his rival for the throne, Herod orders the killing of Bethlehem children under the age of two years. Little Jesus was taken out secretly: the Holy Family managed to escape to Egypt. All the components of this episode are present in the Greek version of Theseus, although noticeably distorted. It is said about the conspiracy of “bad people” against Theseus, about the threat of murder, about the mystery that shrouded the life of the baby Theseus. Finally, it is emphasized that there were fifty “evil nephews”, that is, quite a lot. Note that they were all killed. Perhaps the gospel message was so bizarrely “turned around” that, on the orders of Herod, many children of Bethlehem were killed. The “ancient” Greek version confused only the right and the wrong. She declared Theseus himself the murderer of a large number of Pallant's sons. But such a turning of the essence of the matter upside down is already familiar to us from some other reflections of Andronicus-Christ. For example, the wonderworker Apollonius was falsely accused in a similar way of sacrificing a boy. See, for example, our book The Lost Gospels. In the case of Theseus, the truth still emerges within the same Greek myth. It turns out that Theseus was acquitted by the court of Apollo Delphinius, since his actions were classified as "justifiable murder", p. 265. Thus, Theseus-Theos was not considered guilty of the death of a large number of “sons of Pallant.”

Finally, as we see, both Theseus and Hercules appear side by side in the same scene. All clear. Both are reflections of Andronicus-Christ, so their later “biographies” were confused and intertwined. It got to the point that the “two heroes” began (at the will of the chroniclers) to meet and even talk with each other on the pages of late “ancient” texts. Moreover, ancient authors considered Theseus and Hercules as COUSINS. For example, it is reported that Theseus was generally driven by “the desire to repeat the exploits of his cousin Hercules, in whom he doted,” p. 249.

And indeed, as we will see later, the labors of Theseus are, in general, a duplicate of some of the labors of Hercules. Not a literal repetition, of course, but quite recognizable. The explanation is simple: Scaligerian historians, confused by erroneous chronology, attributed the same actions to “different heroes.” Therefore, they had a theory that Theseus intensively “imitated” Hercules.

Further, Hercules had a twin brother named Iphicles, see chapter 1. The same topic was actively discussed in the case of Theseus. “Originally, Theseus must have had a twin brother, since his mother shared a bed with a god and a mortal on the same night. The myths about Idas and Lynceus, Castor and Polydeuces, HERCULES and IPHICLES convince us of this. Moreover, Theseus, like Hercules, wore a lion's skin... Theseus became the main national hero of Athens... Mythographers did this: he became an Athenian, the son of Aegeus and a mortal, but if necessary, he could claim that his father was Poseidon... There is a desire to show with all his might connection between Theseus and Hercules, but the Athenians did not have enough power to elevate Theseus to the rank of an Olympian god,” p. 250.

Again, the explanation for all this is simple; Both Theseus and Hercules are reflections of Andronicus-Christ, which is why later mythographers found much in common in their biographies.

Emperor Andronikos-Christ was the author of the most important state reforms in Tsar-Grad. For example, he founded a hierarchy of positions and officials, which was described in Christian texts as a heavenly hierarchy of angels of different levels, archangels, etc. See the book “Tsar of the Slavs” for details. It is natural to expect that since Theseus is a reflection of Andronicus-Christ, similar innovations should be noted in the biography of Theseus-Theos. The forecast is justified. This is what the “ancient” Greek texts say about Theseus, who became the ruler of Athens. Let us repeat that Tsar-Grad was sometimes called not only Troy and Jerusalem, but also Athens.

“Theseus turned out to be a ruler who respected the law in everything and began a policy of unification, which over time became the basis of the well-being of Athens... In order for these communities to renounce their independence, Theseus had to turn to each community and each clan separately. As it turned out, ordinary citizens and the poor were ready to recognize his power; he convinced the rest, mostly influential people, to accept his plan, promising in return to abolish the monarchy and replace it with democracy... Those who were not convinced by the arguments, he forced them to respect his power...

Then he united all the suburbs directly with the city itself...

Theseus called the sixteenth day of Getakombeon (July) “the day of unification” and made it a general holiday in honor of Athena...

Then, abdicating, as promised, from the throne, he gave Attica a NEW CONSTITUTION, and this happened under favorable omens...

To further expand the city, Theseus invited worthy foreigners and made them fellow citizens. The messengers he sent out used an appeal that is still in use today, namely: “Come here, all you nations!” After this, huge crowds flocked to Athens, and he divided the entire population of Attica into three classes: Eupatrides, i.e. “those who are worthy of their homeland”, geomeors, i.e. “farmers”, and demiurges, i.e. "artisans". The Euggatrides decided matters of religion, occupied the highest positions, interpreted laws and surpassed others in dignity. Farmers cultivated the land and were considered the backbone of the state. The demiurges, who were much more numerous than all the others, served as soothsayers, surgeons, messengers (“angels” - Auto.), carpet makers, sculptors and confectioners.

This is how Theseus became the first king to form a commonwealth, and that is why Homer in his “Catalog of Ships” calls only the Athenians “the people.” The Constitution of Theseus was in force until the tyrants seized power...

Theseus became the first Athenian king to mint money, and on his coins there was an image of a bull...

TRYING TO BE LIKE HERCULES, who proclaimed his father Zeus the patron of the Olympic Games, Theseus declared his father Poseidon the patron of the Isthmian Games,” p. 266 – 267.

Theseus invited foreigners to Athens, and gave them the rights of citizens and, thereby, opened the way for newcomers to government positions. Similarly, Andronicus-Christ, returning to Tsar-Grad from Rus'-Horde, not only brought with him the Scythian royal guard, but introduced many new Horde customs (for example, wearing pants). This caused discontent among many Constantinople residents, especially the aristocracy, which was one of the reasons for the rebellion. Andronicus was accused of adhering to “barbaric” customs, see the book “Tsar of the Slavs”.

Theseus’s desire to “be like” Hercules is again emphasized. Everything is clear: Theseus and Hercules are two reflections of the same ruler.

It is likely that the Olympic Games and the Isthmian Games are one and the same, since one was established (or consecrated) by Hercules, and the other by Theseus. Moreover, regarding the Isthmian Games it is also said that they “were originally instituted in honor of Hercules Melqart,” p. 254, This confirms the identification we have discovered.

The Greek myth says the following. “While Theseus was in Hades, the Dioscuri gathered an army... marched against Athens and demanded the extradition of Helen. When the Athenians declared that they were not sheltering Helen and did not even have the slightest idea where she was, the Dioscuri began to plunder Attica and continued until the inhabitants of Dekelae, who did not approve of Theseus's behavior, pointed them to Aphidna, where the brothers twins and found their sister. The Dioscuri razed Aphidna to the ground...

The Dioscuri, in spite of Theseus, returned his son Menestheus from exile and made him the ruler of Athens. This Menestheus was the first demagogue. While Theseus was in Hades, he gained the favor of the people by reminding the aristocrats of the power that they had lost after the unification, and told the poor that their fatherland and native shrines had been stolen from them, and they themselves had become a toy in the hands of a rogue of unknown origin, who, however, has already vacated the throne and is said to have died.

When Athens fell and Athens was under threat, Menestheus convinced the people to welcome the Dioscuri to the city as their benefactors and liberators. Indeed, the brothers behaved decently, asking only to be initiated, like Hercules, into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Their request was granted, and the Dioscuri became honorary citizens of Athens... The Dioscuri received divine honors when their constellation rose to the sky... Joyful, they took Helen back to Sparta, and the mother of Theseus and one of the sisters of Pirithous were slaves with her...

Theseus, who returned from Hades shortly after the events described, immediately built the altar of Hercules the Savior and dedicated all but four of his sacred sites to it. However, he was very weak after the torment he had endured, and Athens was so undermined by civil strife and rebellion that he could not even maintain order. He first secretly took his children out of the city to Euboea... and then, cursing the Athenians from Mount Gargetta, he sailed to Crete, where Deucalion promised him refuge.

The storm carried the ship aside, and Theseus had to land on the island of Skyros near Euboea, where King Lycomedes, who, although he was a friend of Menestheus, received him with pomp worthy of his fame and origin. Theseus, who inherited a plot of land on Skyros, asked permission to settle on the island, but Lycomedes, accustomed to consider this plot his own, pretended that he wanted to show Theseus the boundaries of his possessions, and he lured him to the top of a high cliff and pushed him down. He presented the whole thing as if Theseus fell by accident when he decided to take a walk after dinner while drunk,” p. 277 – 278.

Let's look into this information. Theseus has an enemy in the person of the two Dioscuri brothers and their protege Menestheus. The attitude towards the Dioscuri is ambivalent. On the one hand, they are respected by many, on the other hand, they lead a rebellion against King Theseus, who rules in Athens. They manage to organize a coup d'état. Namely, in the absence of Theseus, the Dioscuri, in spite of him, place Menestheus, Theseus’s opponent, on the throne.

Here we should turn to the Byzantine version of the story of Emperor Andronicus-Christ and to the Gospels, see the book “King of the Slavs”. A conspiracy arose against Andronik in Tsar-Grad = Jerusalem. It was headed by Isaac Angel and inspired by a significant part of the capital's aristocracy, dissatisfied with the emperor's reforms. Andronikos Comnenus is removed from power and Isaac Angelos is declared the new ruler. He, most likely, was reflected in the “ancient” Greek legend as the “insidious Dioscuri” or as Menestheus, who illegally took the royal throne in Athens. The imposition of Athens on Tsar Grad is already well known to us, see, for example, our books “The Lost Gospels” and “Christ and Russia...”.

At the same time, the “ancient” Greek Dioscuri and Menestheus are a duplicate of the Gospel Judas Iscariot. Here we immediately recall two more reflections of Judas Iscariot that we discovered earlier in Greek history, namely, the famous figures Alcibiades and Themistocles. By the way, the name DIOSCURUS may be one of the variants of reading the word ISCARIOT during the transition T - D. In fact; Iscariot = SKRT – DSKR = Dioscuri. Alcibiades and Themistocles, as well as the Dioscuri, are assessed by chroniclers with ambivalence. Talented, outstanding figures, but at the same time insidious, unprincipled, ready to betray.

It is worth noting that Menestheus was soon killed, p. 278. This corresponds well with the Gospel message about the imminent death of Judas Iscariot. According to some sources, he hanged himself, and according to others, he was killed. We discussed in detail the murder of Judas by the avengers of Christ in the book “King of the Slavs.”

In the Greek legend, Theseus-Theos is again accused of the fact that it is unclear, they say, who his father is. They say he was a rogue of unknown origin. This skeptical point of view is familiar to us from the rabbinic-Jewish version, which did not recognize the Immaculate Conception and accused Mary the Mother of God of debauchery. This point of view was also reflected in the Roman legend about the She-Wolf and the dissolute shepherd’s wife, who raised Romulus (= Jesus) and Remus (= John the Baptist), see our book “Royal Rome in the Oka and Volga Mesopotamia”. By the way, adherents of this point of view actively whitewashed Judas Iscariot, declaring that “he is better than Yeshua (Jesus).” Likewise, in the Greek version, the Dioscuri (i.e. Iscariot) eventually even receive divine honors, and a constellation of their name appears in the sky in their honor. They say they treated ordinary people well.

According to Byzantine sources and the Gospels, as a result of the rebellion, Emperor Andronikos-Christ was captured and severely tortured. Chaos reigns in the capital and a bloody riot rages. The Gospels especially emphasize Jesus' suffering before his execution.

All this sounds in the Greek legend about Theseus. It is said that Theseus was very weak after suffering, and that Athens was so undermined by civil strife and rebellion that it was impossible to establish order in the capital

In the Byzantine version, Andronicus-Christ tried to escape from a city in revolt on a ship. However, this failed. The storm carried the ship back to Tsar-Grad. Andronik was forced to land and was soon captured.

Similarly, Greek myth reports that, fleeing the Athenian rebellion, Theseus attempted to sail by ship to the island of Crete, where he was promised refuge. But this plan failed to be realized. Although Theseus managed to leave Athens, a storm that broke out carried the ship away from the intended course and Theseus had to land in a completely different place - on the island of Skyros, where he soon died. Both versions speak of a sea storm that prevented the hero's rescue.

The Gospels report that Christ was crucified on Mount Golgotha.

And the Greek version believes that Theseus cursed the Athenians when he found himself on Mount Gargetta. But since Christ was executed on Golgotha, some authors could decide that the dying Andronicus-Christ cursed the Tsar-gradians. Perhaps the name GARGETTA is a distortion of the word GOLGOTHA at the transition L - R and F - T (fita is read both as F and T) . Indeed: Golgotha ​​= GLGF – GRGT = Gargetta.

What follows is a vivid plot with the traitor Lycomedes, who killed Theseus on Skyros. Probably Lycomedes is another reflection of Judas Iscariot. The Greek legend says that Theseus trusted King Lycomedes, who received Theseus with pomp and honor. Thus, Theseus lulled his vigilance. Lycomedes then lured him to the top of a high cliff and pushed him down. Theseus died.

Likewise, according to the Gospels, Judas Iscariot turned out to be a traitor. Cunningly posing as a disciple, he betrayed Jesus, and personally organized his arrest, fig. 3.12, pointing the soldiers to Christ with his famous kiss, fig. 3.13.

Rice. 3.12. Betrayal of Judas. Russian icon of the late 15th – early 16th centuries. Taken from, icon 90 in the Christological Series.

Rice. 3.13. Kiss of Judas. Russian icon of the late 15th – early 16th centuries Taken from, icon 91 in the “Christological Series”.

Jesus is then taken to Calvary where he is crucified. Thus, in both versions, death occurs either on the mountain or “from behind the mountain.” Moreover, the motif of a fatal fall from a high cliff is already familiar to us, for example, from the story of the Ascension of Mary, see the book “Christ was born in Crimea...”. Probably, in the fall of Theseus-Theos from the cliff, the theme of the Resurrection of Jesus was refracted. “Falling from the top of the cliff,” he found himself in the air, as if soaring. That is, He ascended to heaven.

The unusual motive for the murder of Theseus by Lycomedes is noteworthy. Namely, because of a certain piece of land. They say that Theseus owned a plot of land on Skyros, and the vile Lycomedes considered it his own and therefore killed Theseus, showing him the boundaries of his property. It is possible that here we come across a distortion of the well-known gospel story about the potter’s land. Let us remind you.

“Then Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He was condemned, and, repenting, returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. They told him what do we care? take a look yourself. And, throwing the pieces of silver in the temple, he went out, went and hanged himself. The high priests, taking the pieces of silver, said that it was impermissible to put them in the church treasury, because this is the price of blood. Having held a meeting, THEY BOUGHT A POTTER'S LAND WITH THEM, for the burial of strangers; Therefore, THAT LAND IS CALLED “THE LAND OF BLOOD” to this day. Then it was fulfilled which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, who speaketh: and they took thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was valued, whom the children of Israel valued, and gave them for the potter’s ground, as the Lord spake unto me” (Matthew 27:3-10).

So, in both versions, a piece of land is associated with a vile traitor-murderer, that is, Lycomedes-Judas. By the way, the name of the “island” SKYROS can also be a variant reading of the name ISCARIOT. And the “antique” name LYCOMED (the name of an insidious murderer) could have turned out to be a distortion of the Slavic word HYPOCRITE, since the Latin C is read as C and as K, and we give numerous examples of the transition from D to P in our Dictionary of Parallelisms, see the book “Reconstruction”.

It is very interesting that the Greek story about the death of Theseus-Theos apparently reflected the Last Supper of Christ with his disciples, fig. 3.14. Judge for yourself. It is said that Theseus died some time after he, having had lunch and gotten drunk, went out for a walk. So, the crafty editors here called the Last Supper a dinner. The famous gospel breaking of bread and drinking of wine during the Last Supper was declared drunkenness. Let us recall the Gospels:

“And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed it, he broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is My Body. And, taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: drink everything from it, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink new wine with you in the kingdom of My Father” (Matthew 26:26-29).

Rice. 3.14. Last Supper. Russian icon of the late 15th – early 17th centuries. Taken from, icon 86 in the Christological Series.

“The ancient Greek obvious vulgarization of the gospel plot (they say that dinner and drunkenness to the point of insensibility led the hero to death) indicates, most likely, the origin of this “ancient” Greek version from the depths of the skeptical trend already familiar to us. We decided to grin at one of the important dogmas of Christianity. But then this is already the end of the 16th - 17th centuries, when the formerly united Christianity split into several branches of religions. Some of whom began to quarrel.

The resurrection of Theseus-Christ was also reflected in the following Greek story: “During the Battle of Marathon, the spirit of Theseus rose from the ground to inspire the Athenians, and fully armed attacked the Persians,” p. 278.

In the Christian tradition, the descent of Christ into hell is well known, Fig. 3.15. We have shown that it is present, and in a vivid form, in the Greek legends about Hercules. Now it was Theseus' turn. If he is a reflection of Andronicus-Hercules, then his “biography” should have the same plot. This is true. Traditionally, commentators even highlight an entire section called “Theseus in Hades.” We quote.

“Pirithous convinced Theseus... to go together to Sparta and steal Helen, the sister of the Dioscuri Castor and Polydeuces, with whom they both dreamed of marrying...

They led an army to Lacedaemon... captured Helen... They cast lots, according to which Helen went to Theseus... [Elena] at that time was still a girl of twelve years...

Several years passed, and when Helen reached an age sufficient for Theseus to marry her, Pirithous reminded him of their agreement (to get Pirithous another wife in exchange for Helen - Auto.).

Rice. 3.15. Russian icon “Resurrection - Descent into Hell”, Yaroslavl (that is, Veliky Novgorod). End of the 16th century. Taken from, p. 117.

Together they turned to the oracle of Zeus... and received an ironic answer: “Why not visit the kingdom of the dead and demand Persephone, the wife of Hades, as a bride for Pirithous”...

Theseus became angry when Pirithous, who took this proposal seriously, reminded him of the oath (to stand for each other - Auto.), but could not refuse, and so they already descended into the kingdom of the dead... and soon knocked on the doors of the palace of Hades. Hades calmly listened to their shameless demand and, pretending to be hospitable, invited them to sit down. Suspecting nothing, they sat down where it was suggested and found themselves on the throne of oblivion. They had grown to it so much that they could no longer get up from it without being injured. Around them, coiled snakes hissed, they were scourged by the Erinyes and tormented by Kerberus with his teeth. Hades looked at all this and smiled gloomily.

So they spent four whole years in agony, until Hercules, who came at the behest of Eurystheus to take Cerberus, recognized them when they silently extended their hands to him, begging for help. Persephone accepted Hercules as a brother, kindly allowing him to free the villains and take them with him to earth if only he could. After this, Hercules grabbed Theseus with both hands and began to pull until he tore him off with a terrible crash. Part of his body remained stuck to the stones... Then Hercules grabbed Pirithous by the hand, but the ground shook threateningly and he let go. In the end, it was Pirithous who was the instigator of this blasphemous enterprise.

Some believe that Hercules freed both Pirithous and Theseus; others, on the contrary, say that he was unable to save anyone, and Theseus remained forever chained to the throne of oblivion, and Pirithous lay next to Ixion on a gilded bed and before his hungry gaze tables appeared, laden with dishes, which were immediately carried away by the eldest of the Erinyes " , With. 275 – 276. Plutarch reports that Pirithous died, v. 1, p. 21.

It is clear that the descent into Hades of Theseus-Theos is a duplicate of the descent into Hell of Jesus Christ. But unlike the Christian presentation of this plot, here the emphasis is on the “antique” design.

In addition, the theme of the suffering and crucifixion of Andronicus-Christ was also mixed in here. It is said that Theseus-Theos “sat down on the throne of oblivion” and stuck to it, unable to rise. Most likely, this refers to the crucifixion in which God Jesus was tied or nailed. In addition, in some other reflections of this scene we have already seen that the cross was called a “throne” or “chair”. For example, this is how the crucifixion-“burning” of King Croesus at the “bonfire”-Golgotha ​​was represented. rice. 3.16. Let us explain that Croesus is another reflection of Christ, see our book “Christ and Russia...”, ch. 3:3, It is clear why they sometimes spoke of the “throne of oblivion,” that is, the throne of death, destruction. Indeed, Jesus died on the cross, died.

Rice. 3.16. King Croesus at the stake. Drawing on an “antique” Greek vase. Taken from, part 1, p. 135.

In Greek myth, the theme of the suffering of Theseus-Theos is clearly heard. Snakes hiss around him, he (and Pirithous) are scourged by Erinyes, and tormented by a terrible dog. The torture and scourging of Jesus is a well-known Christian story.

The “ancient” version again speaks of the salvation of Theseus, that is, as we now understand, the Resurrection of Christ. Thanks to divine intervention, Theseus was “torn off” from the terrible throne of oblivion and returned to the world, to people. That is, he is resurrected.

And again, the actual identification of Theseus with Hercules arises. Hercules supposedly saves Theseus. According to the Christian concept, Jesus saved himself. And in the “antique design”, Hercules-Christ saved Theseus-Christ. In other words, Jesus freed himself. Everything is correct. It's just said in different words.

In the book “Tsar of the Slavs” we showed that Andronicus-Christ had his right hand cut off during torture. Is this reflected in the myth of Theseus? Yes, although in a slightly distorted form. It is said that when Theseus was “torn away” from the throne of oblivion, a part of the hero’s body moved away from him, which remained “stuck to the stone.” Allegedly it was part of the buttocks. In fact, in the original source it was most likely about the severed hand of Andronicus-Christ. This happened during beatings and torture.

It is interesting that the “ancient” Apollodorus provides details of how exactly part of Theseus’s body was torn off. The following is said: “Approaching the very entrance to Hades, Hercules found there Theseus and Pirithous, who had come to woo Persephone and for this TIED to a rock. Seeing Hercules, they both began to stretch out their hands to him so that he would bring them to the light with his mighty power. Hercules, TAKEN THESEUS BY THE HAND, led him out. He wanted to bring Pirithous out as well, but the earth shook,” p. 40.

So, we learn that Pirithoi, and therefore Theseus, were not just “glued to the stone,” but were tied. This agrees well with the fact that Andronicus-Christ, that is, Theseus, was crucified on the cross, either by tying him or nailing him. According to another version, Theseus and Pirithous-Pirithois were “held in their rings by the dragons entwined around them,” p. 79.

Further, it is said that Hercules, saving Theseus, grabbed and pulled him hard by the hand. At the same time, he tore off part of Theseus’ body. But we already know that Andronicus-Christ’s right arm or hand was torn off. It turns out that Hercules, having grabbed Theseus-Christ by the hand, could well have torn off his hand, and not his buttocks, as mythographers later began to mistakenly think.

It is worth paying attention to Theseus’s companion, Pirithous. His identification is not very clear. It is possible, however, that the famous Roman procurator Pontius Pilate appears here in the image of Pirithous-Pirithous. Greek myth emphasizes that Pirithoi helped Theseus, was his comrade-in-arms and friend. But Pontius Pilate also tried to save Jesus when the Jews accused him and demanded death.

Further, Pirithoi is declared to be the voluntary or involuntary culprit for the fact that Theseus found himself chained to the throne of oblivion in Hades. It is said that it was Pirithous who “was the instigator of this blasphemous enterprise,” that is, the very idea of ​​​​descending to Hades for Persephone. But Pontius Pilate, by his direct order, sent Christ to execution, yielding to the furious demands of Jesus’ enemies. This is why Christian tradition holds Pilate guilty of the death of Christ. Although circumstances are also mentioned that mitigate the guilt of the Roman procurator.

The Greek version says that Pirithous, because of his blasphemous act, ended up in Hades and remained there forever. It is interesting that a similar legend is known about Pontius Pilate. “In Slavic manuscripts... (there is - Auto.) a story about the trial and death of Pilate, which is a translation of another Greek work, “The Tradition of Pilate” (in the sense of “tradition to death”). Briefly, its content is as follows: having read Pilate’s report, Caesar Tiberius orders him to come to Rome. There, in the Capitoline sanctuary, in the presence of the entire Senate, the interrogation of the deposed governor takes place: for what reason did he crucify an innocent man who had performed so many wonders and signs? Enraged, Tiberius sends the military commander Lytian to Jerusalem... to punish the lawless Jews, and orders Pilate to cut off his head. Before his execution, Pilate, already a Christian at heart, raises his eyes to heaven and, turning to Jesus, says: “All generations and my fatherly people will bless you”... Pilate’s severed head is picked up by an angel and carried to heaven,” p. 450.

By the way, the name PIRITHOU could come from the name PILATE through the natural transitions L - R and T - F (fita was read in two ways). That is: Pilate = PLT – PRF = Pirithous. It is not for nothing that in the ancient book of Apollodorus “Mythological Library” the name PIRITHOUS is mentioned in the form PIRITHOUS, p. 40. That is, here Fita sounds like T.

Perhaps the Greek legend of Pirithous, chained to the stone-throne of oblivion next to Theseus, also reflected one of the two criminals crucified on either side of Christ. Let us remember that one of them blasphemed, accusing Christ. For this he was punished - his soul went to hell.

We have already shown that the concept of the Resurrection of Christ was reflected in some ancient sources as the “loss of the grave.” They believed that He was buried somewhere, but where exactly is unknown. In some versions, the “grave” is still “found” after some time, in others it remains lost. A similar confused discussion was conducted by “ancient” authors regarding the tomb of Theseus-Theos.

“Pythia ordered the Athenians, who consulted the oracle, to transfer the bones of Theseus to their homeland. The people of Athens suffered for a very long time from the insolence of the inhabitants of Skyros, and the Delphic Oracle declared that this would continue as long as the bones of Theseus remained on the island. However, discovering the grave was quite a difficult task, since the people of Skyros were as gloomy as they were ferocious; and when Cimon captured the island, they refused to show him where Theseus' grave was. But Kimon noticed an eagle, which was hammering with its beak and tearing the ground with its claws; Taking this as a sign from above, he ordered to dig in this place. Almost immediately, a huge coffin was found under the hill, inside which he discovered the skeleton of a tall man armed with a bronze spear and sword. This man could only be Theseus. The skeleton was reverently transported to Athens and placed in the sanctuary of Theseus,” p. 279.

Despite the discovery of the grave, the identification of the skeleton with the remains of Theseus was, according to the authors of this version, still indirect: they say, the skeleton could not belong to anyone else. Why, you ask? At the same time, this source preserved memories of Theseus’ great growth. This agrees well with the information that Andronicus-Christ was very tall, see the book “King of the Slavs.”

The strong similarity between the myths of Hercules and Theseus is again emphasized: “His resemblance to Hercules is proverbial,” p. 279.

Christ was considered the patron and protector of the oppressed, poor, and ordinary people. The same is said about Theseus: “The slaves and farm laborers who suffered from oppression, whose ancestors turned their gaze to Theseus as a defender from the oppressors, now sought refuge in his sanctuary, where sacrifices were made to him,” p. 279.

As one might expect, the labors of Theseus are in many ways similar to those of Hercules. The similarity is not literal, but very noticeable. It is not for nothing that the “ancient” authors themselves say at every step that Theseus “imitated” Hercules. We will not compare the labors of Theseus and Hercules in detail, since there is a lot of material here and the legends are quite confusing. Let us say right away that the labors of Hercules are described better and more clearly. For example, the twelve main ones are well highlighted. In the case of Theseus, the picture is not so clear. The labors are in many ways the same as those of Hercules, but are presented more vaguely. It is clear that the legends about Theseus-Theos are based on a different version of the “biography” of Andronicus-Christ, a shorter one. For example, we were unable to discover the “Zodiac of Theseus” and the corresponding astronomical horoscope. Apparently, the authors of Theseus’ version did not attach importance to celestial phenomena. In Fig. 3.17 shows an ancient depiction of some of Theseus's exploits.

Rice. 3.17. The exploits of Theseus. Drawing on an “antique” vase. Taken from, p. 225.

Theseus, like Hercules, had a famous club with which he defeated his enemies. The following is known. “Theseus decided to clear the coastal road leading from Troezen to Athens from robbers. He decided not to get into a fight, but also not to let anyone down. ACT LIKE HERCULES - so that the punishment of villains matches the crime. In Epidaurus he was waylaid on the road by the robber Periphetus... He had a huge iron club with which he killed travelers. Theseus snatched the club from his hands and beat Peritheus to death with it. The club turned out to be so large and heavy and he liked it so much that from then on he always carried it with him with pride. And although he himself managed to repel her deadly blow, in his hands she struck without a miss,” p. 251.